Harper looks sharper as Grambling downs Dillard
November 25, 2010

Box score

     NEW ORLEANS — Senior guard Kristen Harper made six 3-pointers and scored a season-high 19 points Thursday to lead Grambling to a 73-55 women's basketball victory over Dillard in the opening game of the Xavier Classic.
     Xavier University of Louisiana defeated Langston 62-47 in the second game.
     The Lady Tigers (1-4) never trailed and got two 3-pointers from Harper in the first 2½ minutes during an 11-1 run. Dillard closed to 29-25 on Ariel Mitchell's 3-pointer at 1:58, but Harper and Brittney Allen answered with 3-pointers to give Grambling a 35-26 halftime lead.
     Priscella Booker's basket with 11:11 remaining cut Grambling's lead to 46-44, but the Lady Tigers put the game away with a 13-3 run. Tonishea Mack scored the final seven points of the burst, including a basket at 5:01 to make it 59-47.
     Mack finished with 13 points and a season-best nine rebounds.
     Jazzmin Smith scored 16 points and Mitchell 13 for Dillard (5-5), which entered with a four-game win streak but counted the game as an exhibition.
     Grambling, which shot 29 percent from the floor in its first four games, outshot Dillard 53 to 34 percent and outrebounded the Lady Bleu Devils 44-22.
     This was the first meeting between Grambling, an NCAA Division I member, and NAIA member Dillard since the 2000-01 season.
     Grambling Coach Donnita Rogers extended her Xavier Classic win streak to six games. She coached Langston to 2-0 records in the 2006 and 2007 events, then led Grambling to a victory against Tuskegee in the Lady Tigers' only game at XU in 2009.
     Dillard will play Langston at 1 p.m. Friday, followed by Grambling vs. Xavier at 3.