Albany State women rout Tuskegee

ALBANY — The Albany State Lady Rams fell in love with the long ball early in their game against Tuskegee Saturday afternoon at the HPER Gymnasium and it would help them get a convincing 73-40 victory.

The win improves the Lady Rams to 10-10 on the season and 10-2 in the SIAC.

After a sloppy first quarter that featured about a half dozen turnovers, ASU was able to move the ball and get Keidra Green open in the second. She knocked down four consecutive 3-pointers to give the Lady Rams a 22-15 lead in the second quarter.

Her sister, Kayla, also got active and followed that up with a 4-0 run of her own to push the lead to double digits. Albany State went into the half with a 32-22 lead despite 14 turnovers. Head coach Robert Skinner said they were able to protect the ball better toward the end of the half and that helped them build a lead.

“I think we just were able to move the ball and protect it a little bit better,” he said. “We just didn’t do a very good job of protecting the ball the first five minutes of the game. We turned the ball over a lot. I don’t know if it was a lack of focus or what it was but once we got into our offense and started focusing, we got the available shots.”

The second half featured tight defense from ASU as they tallied all seven of their team blocks. Four blocks came from Kayla Green. Offensively, the 3-pointers continued to fall as Zuri Frost and Deborah Hoe knocked down two apiece. The Lady Rams shot 9 of 19 from 3-point range in the game and shot 47 percent from the perimeter.

Defensively, ASU was able to hold Tuskegee to 19.2 percent shooting in the first half and 16.2 percent in the second. Skinner said he’s confident in his team’s defense at this point in the season, he would just like to see them click more on the offensive end.

Keidra Green led all scorers with 18 points. Frost finished with 14 points and Ieshia Young scored 10 off the bench. Artisha Holston pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds.

The Lady Rams will are back in action next Saturday against rival Fort Valley State for ASU’s homecoming game at the HPER Gymnasium.