Lady Tigers race past Wiley College 74-36

HOUSTON – The Lady Tigers of Texas Southern University overcame a rough first quarter Monday and overwhelmed Wiley College by a score of 74-36.
 
At TSU's H&PE Arena, Joyce Kennerson scored 29 points on 10-of-15 shooting to lead the Lady Tigers (3-4) to their second consecutive victory. Kennerson, a junior from Port Arthur, Texas (Memorial), drained six out of her eight 3-point tries.
 
Makenna Pouengue (Stone Mountain, Ga./Parkview) scored 11 points, one off her collegiate high set two years ago in a loss at LSU. Pouengue made three 3-pointers for the Lady Tigers.
 
Malachi McQueen led Wiley College (3-2) with 10 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Tigers head east to Louisiana to face Southland Conference opponent Northwestern State. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Rapides Parish Coliseum in Alexandria, La.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lady Tigers started cold, making just two out of 17 shots (11.8 percent) from the field in the first 10 minutes. TSU outrebounded Wiley 13-9 in the opening period, and grabbed nine caroms off the offensive glass, but could not convert those chances into points. Wiley led 8-5 at the end of the quarter.
 
Compounding Wiley's early troubles was Kennerson picking up two quick fouls in the opening period. She returned in the second quarter and scored 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, which included making all four 3-point attempts.
 
As Kennerson went, so did the Lady Tigers, who outscored Wiley 29-13 in the second quarter. A 3-pointer by Pouengue with 5:14 remaining in the period put the Lady Tigers up for good at 18-15, but it was a 13-2 TSU run between the 3:31 and 1:06 marks of the period that put the game away. Kennerson scored knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers during the run, and three points from Catherine Okwilagwe capped the run with the Lady Tigers building their lead to 33-20.
 
TSU erased any doubt of the outcome in the third quarter by outscoring Wiley 26-8. The Lady Tigers finished the period by outscoring the Wildcats 16-3 over the final six minutes of the period.
 
KEY POINTS
• TSU guard Camille Mills pulled in a game-high 13 rebounds, more than double her previous career high of six set in Texas Southern's last home game against Texas State. Mills also chipped in three points.
• Makenna Pouengue came off the TSU bench and grabbed 11 rebounds in addition to scoring three points.
• The Lady Tigers recorded 14 steals on Wiley's 23 turnovers, and converted those takeaways to a 21-11 advantage in points off turnovers. TSU also outscored Wiley 32-20 in the paint.
• After their poor shooting in the first quarter, the Lady Tigers shot 59 percent (23 of 39) from the floor for the final three periods.
• The game between TSU and Wiley occurred 10 years and one day after the previous meeting between the two teams; in that contest, the Lady Tigers claimed a narrow 60-56 win over Wiley, which was coached by current TSU coach Johnetta Hayes-Perry.
• Kennerson pushed her scoring average up to 25.3 points per game. She entered Monday's contest ranked second in the nation in scoring behind Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell (25.7 ppg).