Women's Basketball 12/15/2013 8:51:00 PM

Kirkland Leads Women’s Basketball To Victory With Career-High 20 Points

Box Score
FARMVILLE, Va. – Senior guard Jasmine Kirkland scored a career and season-high 20 points for Savannah State on Sunday as the Lady Tigers broke a four-game losing streak with a 79-55 rout of Longwood in Farmville, Virginia.

Joining Kirkland in double-digits were three other Lady Tigers. Freshman Tiyonda Davis recorded her first career double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Jasmine Norman scored 19 points in the win, and Bria Dorsey tacked on 11 points.

It's only the second time in SSU's history they have been beat Longwood in Virginia. The Lady Tigers and 11^th year head coach Cedric Baker improve their record against Longwood to 7-8 and the season's record to 4-5.

Daeisha Brown led the Lancers with 17 points, while Khalilah Ali recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Kyndal Skersick tacked on 10 points in Longwood's fifth loss of the season.

Longwood drew first blood in the opening half going up 4-0 in the first two minutes. The Lady Tigers tied the game on two good free-throws moments later from Dorsey.

The Lancers pushed ahead of SSU at the 15:13 mark with a good 3-pointer from Skersick for an 11-4 advantage.

With 7:15 to play in the opening period, Jerryshia Williams sank a layup on a fast break to tie the game for the fifth time in the half, at 22, and open a 9-0 run for the Lady Tigers. Dorsey capped the run with a layup in the paint for a 29-22 SSU advantage.

In the final four minutes of the opening half, SSU maintained their lead despite two good 3-pointers from Longwood. Kenyata Hendrix sealed up a 35-32 lead for the Lady Tigers into the locker room with a layup in the paint.

In the opening half, SSU shot 46.9 percent from the field (15-for-32), scoring 10 points on fast break chances and 22 in the paint. They forced nine turnovers and had six steals. Dorsey led in steals for the game with seven.

Three minutes into the second period, Brown knotted the game up for the sixth and final time at 39 all with a good free-throw.

The Lady Tigers then opened a 24-3 run that spanned the middle nine minutes of the second half. During the massive offensive effort, Kirkland scored six back-to-back points, while the SSU defense kept Longwood scoreless for a full seven minutes.

With 6:31 to play, Khalilah got the Lancers within 13 points of SSU's growing lead with a layup in the paint. It was the closest the home team came to the Lady Tigers lead.

In the waning minutes, Norman and Charmia Graham scored the final points of the game for SSU's largest lead of 24 points.

SSU scored 36 of their 44 points in the second half from the paint and 10 points off of turnovers. They shot 54 percent from the floor, hitting 34 of 63 attempts.

Longwood managed only 23 points in the second period, and shot 36.7 percent from the floor and went 6-for-21 from the 3-point line.

The Lady Tigers continue their 10-game road stretch with a visit to Charleston Southern on December 19. SSU beat the Lady Bucs' 75-47 in Tiger Arena earlier this season.

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