SAVANNAH, Ga.- Savannah State snapped their two-game losing skid with a 63-49 victory over Johnson C. Smith on Sunday afternoon inside Tiger Arena. It was SSU's final non-conference game of the season.

Alayah Birch led the way for Savannah State with her first collegiate double-double of her young career. The freshman from Charleston, South Carolina finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals. Amani Hamilton added 12 points and nine rebounds while Mya Byrd chipped in ten points, three rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

JSCU scored the first points of the contest but the Lady Tigers responded with layups from Kyla Grant, Hamilton and Birch to go ahead 6-2. The Golden Bulls outscored SSU 8-2 in the final 4:45 of the first quarter to grab a 10-8 lead.

Hamilton hit a pair of free throws to open the second quarter to tie the game. That was followed by a blocked shot by Grant which led to a fast break layup by Hamilton and Grant capped a steal by Sanai Chisholm with a fast break layup for a 14-10 advantage with 8:41 showing on the clock.

Ahead 16-15 with 4:34 left in the first half, Savannah State closed the quarter with a 9-2 spurt as four different players scored. Birch hit a jumper, K'yla Hankerson and Jayden Boykin each made layups and Byrd drilled a 3-pointer.

SSU led 25-17 at the break.

Ahead 29-21 in the third quarter, the Lady Tigers used a 9-0 surge to push their advantage to 38-21 with just under five minutes left in the quarter.

Hamilton jump started the run with two free throws followed by a layup by Byrd, a layup and a free throw by Birch and two free throws by Byrd.

The Lady Tigers led by 17 with seven seconds left in the quarter but Byrd was fouled on a three-point attempt. Byrd made all three free throws which sent SSU into the fourth quarter with a 51-31 cushion.

Johnson C. Smith (3-6) was able to whittle their deficit down to 53-42 with 5:33 left in the fourth quarter but SSU was able to counter with a 9-2 spurt that ended with Hamilton making a layup with 1:37 showing to increase the lead to 62-45.

Savannah State scored 21 points off 17 JCSU turnovers, scored 44 points in the paint, had 11 second chance points and 15 fast break points while out-rebounding the Golden Bulls 41-30.

The Lady Tigers finished the game shooting 45.5 percent from the field including 64.3 percent in the third quarter.

Hankerson added eight points and five rebounds, Grant had six points and six rebounds while Boykin contributed five points, Jazmin Thornton scored four and Chisholm had two points.

The teams met on November 10 in Charlotte, North Carolina as part of the CIAA/SIAC Challenge in which the Golden Bulls won in overtime 75-71.

The win gives Savannah State a 4-4 overall record on the early 2024-25 campaign SSU will resume play on December 14 at Tiger Arena with an SIAC cross-divisional contest against LeMoyne-Owen with tipoff slated for 4:00pm.

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