CINCINNATI, Ohio | Deja McKinney dropped in a career-high 19 points and Shakyla Hill dished out a career-high 10 assists, but it wasn't enough as the Grambling State University women's basketball team nearly rallied from a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit on Thursday night in falling to Xavier 72-67 at the Cintas Center.
 
The Lady Tigers (1-2) trailed 20-14 after one quarter and 39-34 at the break. Grambling State closed the gap to 51-48 at the end of three quarters, but Xavier was too much and led 66-54 with 3:56 remaining before the Lady Tigers made a 13-6 run to close out the game.
 
McKinney led all scorers with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including a game-high five 3-pointers. Hill registered a double-double of 13 points and a career-high 10 assists. Also, she added six steals, six rebounds and one blocked shot.
 
Jada Byrd paced the Musketeers (3-0) with 18 points, including 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. Imani Partlow tallied a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Aaliyah Dunham recorded 11 points.
 
Turning Point
The Musketeers raced out to an early 8-2 lead after an Ashley Gomez 3-pointer, but the Lady Tigers answered and used 10-2 run, capped by a pair of free throws by Laneisha Jeans to grab a 12-11 advantage.
 
But as quickly as Grambling State was able to take the lead, Xavier answered and used a 9-3 run to close out the opening quarter.
 
The Musketeers took their largest lead of the first half, 33-24, after a free-throw by Byrd with 5:09 left in the second quarter, but the Lady Tigers were able to close the gap to 39-33 after McKinney sank a buzzer beater to end the first half.
 
Grambling State cut the deficit to 41-39 after a Takerra Parsons layup with 6:38 remaining in the third quarter and the Lady Tigers tied the contest at 48 after a bucket by McKinney with 37 seconds left in the frame.
 
Xavier scored the next eight points, capped by a Byrd layup to take a 56-48 advantage with 7:49 left, but again Grambling State kept it close and trimmed the margin to 56-52 after a layup by McKinney with 6:48 remaining.
 
However, the Musketeers used a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to grab a 66-54 advantage and the Lady Tigers nearly rallied and cut the margin to 72-67 after a McKinney layup with 21 seconds remaining, but that would be as close as Grambling State would get.
 
Inside the Numbers
· Grambling State shot 39.3 percent (24-of-61) from the floor and 92.3 percent (12-of-13) from the free-throw line.
· Xavier was 21-of-45 shooting (46.7 percent) and 20-of-28 (71.4 percent) from the charity stripe.
· The Lady Tigers finished the night with 30 rebounds, including 17 on the defensive end.
· The Musketeers tailed 34 rebounds, including 23 off the defensive glass.
· Grambling State scored 26 points in the paint, 22 off turnovers and had 43 bench points.
· Xavier tallied 22 points in the paint, 16 off turnovers and 19 bench points.
· There were two ties and two lead changes.
 
News & Notes
· Grambling State entered the game off a victory over Louisiana-Monroe.
· The Xavier victory evened the series with Grambling State (1-1).
· Grambling State will welcome a ranked and ACC opponent to town on Sunday.
 
Up Next
Grambling State returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 19 at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center against 17th-ranked Florida State. Tip-Off for Church and Community Day is set for 4 p.m.
 
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