Road wins have been hard to come by in conference play for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, but the Lady Lions closed out the basketball regular season with a big one.
UAPB upset second-place Alcorn State 66-61 at the Davey L. Whitney Complex in Lorman, Miss., sweeping the season series against the Lady Braves. The win sends UAPB into next week’s SWAC tournament in Atlanta with positive momentum, but it wasn’t enough to improve the Lady Lions’ seeding, as they settled for the No. 7 position after entering the night tied for No. 6.
UAPB (13-15, 10-8 SWAC) led most of the night, though the hosts did their best to rally late in the fourth quarter after the Lady Lions led by as much as 57-44 with 6:04 remaining.
Alcorn State (17-12, 14-4) trimmed the UAPB lead to 63-59, giving the Lady Braves late hope with 1:29 to play. They missed their next three shots, after which point a flagrant foul by Alcorn senior Kiarra Henderson gave the Lady Lions a chance to seal the game.
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Junior UAPB guard Indiya Bowen made both free throws with 22.8 seconds left, but the Lady Braves forced a quick turnover afterward, trailing 65-59. After a three-point miss by Nakia Cheatham, Henderson had to settle for a layup which kept UAPB’s lead a two-possession advantage with not enough time left to finish the comeback.
Bowen ended the night with a game-high 26 points. Junior guard Jailah Pelly added 15 points, while junior forward Khaniah Gardner scored 13 points with 13 rebounds.
Guard Maya Hunkin-Claytor led the Lady Braves with 18 points, all scored at the three-point line. Her six triples came on a night she broke the Alcorn record for three-pointers in a season with 71.
Henderson added 17 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out. Cheatham scored 15 points.
The teams traded buckets for the first 2:15 of the game before UAPB went on a 9-0 run to take the lead for good. Gardner hit a layup for the lead and scored another shot during the run.
UAPB led 18-8 before Alcorn went on a 9-0 run. Bowen broke a 6:16 scoring drought with a three-pointer to keep the Lady Lions ahead. UAPB went on to win despite shooting 9 of 20 from the free throw line.
Alcorn finished the regular season with half of its SWAC losses coming against UAPB. The Lady Lions defeated the Lady Braves 64-60 in Pine Bluff on Feb. 7.
UAPB entered the night tied with Grambling State for sixth place, both trailing fifth-place Jackson State by one game. The Lady Lions needed a win against Alcorn and a Grambling loss at Alabama State to finish in the top six. Combining both of those with a Jackson loss to Mississippi Valley State would have given the Lady Lions the No. 5 seed.
The Lady Lions got two of the three results they wanted. Valley upset Jackson 66-50 on the road, but Grambling prevailed 68-50 against Bama State.
The Lady Lions finished in a three-way tie for fifth, but Jackson’s 2-1 record against the tied teams gave it the No. 5-seed. Grambling went 1-1 against the other two, with its Jan. 22 win against UAPB dropping the Lady Lions to the No. 7 seed. UAPB went 1-2 against Jackson and Grambling.
Despite the tiebreakers not favoring UAPB, a fifth-place tie is still UAPB’s best finish since coming in fourth in 2024.