FLORENCE, Ala.  Senior Becca Ruckes scored 18 points to lead Delta State University (17-5, 14-5 GSC) to a 62-58 comeback win over the University of North Alabama (5-19, 4-15 GSC) on Saturday at Flowers Hall.
 
Inside the Matchup

• Score: Delta State 62 | North Alabama 58
• Matchup:  Lady Statesmen (17-5, 14-5 GSC) | Lions (5-19, 4-15 GSC)
• Series: DSU leads series 51-7
• Date:  Sat., Feb. 13, 2016 | 1 p.m. (CST)
• Location: Flowers Hall | Florence, Ala.

How It Happened

• The Lady Statesmen jumped out to an 8-1 lead after a pair of Aspriona Gilbert free throws with 5:08 left in the first quarter.
• Anissa Jackson extended the lead to 10-3 with 4:19 left before a Shunice Herron 3-pointer cut the lead to 10-8 at the 3:18 mark.
• Kaelin Kneeland gave DSU a 16-8 lead on the end of a 6-0 run before UNA closed the quarter on a 4-0 run to trail 16-12.
• DSU's lead dwindled to 21-18 before going on a 6-2 spurt to take a 27-20 lead with 1:49 left in the first half.
• A Jackson basket gave DSU a 29-23 lead with 57 seconds to go and Jaclyn Heath 3-pointer cut the lead to 29-26 at halftime.
• Alexus Patterson gave UNA 34-32 lead in the third quarter only to see a Ruckes jump shot tie game with 5:12 to go.
• Trailing 44-38 with 1:05 left in the third, the Lady Statesmen outscored UNA 5-2 to trail 46-43 after three quarters.
• UNA held a 53-45 lead at the 6:49 mark of the fourth when DSU used a 9-1 run to take a 54-53 lead with 3:33 left.
• The final 3:25 of the contest saw two ties and four lead changes before Ruckes gave DSU a 59-58 lead with 2:24 remaining.
• A Chelsey Rhodes layup with 26 seconds left and Davis free throw with one second to go provided the 62-58 win.
• North Alabama shot 36 percent and scored 22 of its 58 points from the free throw line on 28 attempts.
• The Lady Statesmen went 25-of-55 (45.5 percent) from the floor, 1-of-8 from 3-point range and 11-of-20 from the charity stripe.

Notables              

• Ruckes' 18 points came on 8-of-16 shooting and 2-of-4 free throws, marking her 12^th double figure performance this season.
• Gilbert added 11 points to lead the Lady Sta while Jackson and Davis added nine points.
• Davis collected a team-high eight rebounds to tie her career-high.
• Rhodes scored eight points to take over eighth on DSU's all-time scoring list with 1,623 points, passing Carla Holder (1981-84/1,615 pts.).
• Rhodes did not score in double figures for the first time in 21 games dating back to the GSC title game against Union University (3.7.15).
• Head Coach Craig Roden claimed his 532^nd career win and 333^rd GSC victory and improved to 4-0 against North Alabama since arriving at Delta State.
• The Lady Statesmen claimed their seventh straight win and improved to 21-5 at Flowers Hall in the series.
• Patterson led UNA with 16 points and nine rebounds while Janae Lyde had 11 points.

Who's Next?

• Delta State returns home for its final regular season home games against Shorter University on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and Lee University on Saturday at 2 p.m.