GRAMBLING, La. (Women's Basketball) - Southwestern Athletic Conference player of the week Monisha Neal demonstrated why she earned the honor with a career high 26 points.
Neal and the Grambling State Lady Tigers tacked on a 90-85 win over the Jackson State University Lady Tigers giving JSU their fifth straight loss, Saturday at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Center. Grambling State bounced from back to back losses and put J-State away behind an unstoppable third quarter performance by Shakyla "Thrill" Hill. Hill, with her signature rolled-up gym shorts, breezed past J-State defenders torqueing her body in mid-flight finishing contested layups at the rim.  Hill finished with 10 points in the period and 16 points for the day. 

Grambling Coach Freddie Murray preached finishing to his team this week and they did just that.

"We just have to keep doing the little things. We played a good game against Texas Southern last week for 35 mins and just faltered at the end and the same for the Prairie View game.  Today, we jumped out of Jackson State, played well and let them back into the game and had to hold on down the stretch for the win.  If we can just continue to do the little things like defend at a high level, rebound and shoot well from the free- throw line we can battle back into the conference contention," said Murray.

The Lady Tigers (6-12, 4-3 SWAC) Big 3 of Neal, Hill and Jazmin Boyd combined for 63 points. Boyd added 21 points and two critical late game free throws with 29.9 left in the game. After a timeout, Boyd stepped to the line and was ruthless swishing two free throws to extend Grambling State led to 88-83. 

Now with 15.1 seconds left J-State Maria Conyers- Jordan had her shot at two free throws, she brought J-State within three points 88-85. Moments earlier Conyers- Jordan drilled an all net 3-pointer from the right wing to close Grambling State led to 86-83. 

Jackson State (7-10, 1-6 SWAC) down 88-85 fouled Bre'nae Andrews. She returned the two points pushing Grambling State led to 90-85. Conyers-Jordan had the basketball in the finals seconds of the game captured a rebound and missed a floater at the rim as time expired. 

Conyers-Jordan ended the game with 15 points followed by Kierra Williams with 12 points both Sumer Williams and Derica Williams added 10 points. 

Grambling State is back at the Hobdy Center Monday for a conference matchup with the University of Arkansas - Pinebluff on Saturday January 28, at 3 p.m.