BIRMINGHAM – Defense wins championships, and the Kentucky State University women's basketball team will have the opportunity to put that theory to work after pulling its third upset of the 2019 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament. (Post Game Press Conference)

The Thorobreds held Tuskegee, the West Division champions, to nine points in the fourth quarter and overtime to advance to the SIAC championship game on the strength of the 46-40 victory Friday at the Bill Harris Arena.

Kentucky State will play #4W Lane 5 p.m. EST Saturday. KSU will be making its fifth visit to the SIAC title game, and the Thorobreds are 1-3 in those games, winning the 1997 championship. The 'Breds lost both games to Lane this season. 

Trailing by nine points with 8:51 remaining, Kentucky State went to work and slowly chipped away at its deficit. KSU forced eight turnovers and limited the Golden Tigers to 0-of-4 shooting in scoring 12 of the final 14 points of the fourth quarter. It was also the third consecutive game the 'Breds survived a last second shot.

Once the game went into the extra session, it was all Thorobreds as TU's shooting woes continued with a 0-for-6 shooting performance in the five-minute period.

Senior Brooke Wallace (Oberlin, OH) gave Kentucky State the lead on a pair of free throws following an offensive rebound. Tuskegee split a pair from the charity stripe and then sophomore Erica Jones (South Haven, MS) pushed the lead to three with 2:33 remaining. TU split another pair of free throws before a Wallace basket with 31 seconds remaining pushed the KSU advance to two possessions at four points.

Free throws by junior Jessie Kee (Indianapolis, IN) and senior Tara Jefferson (Milwaukee, WI) sandwiched defensive stops to lift KSU to the victory.
Tuskegee scored the first five points of the game, but the 'Breds answered by scoring 12 of the next 14 to open a five-point lead. The lead slowly evaporated as the Golden Tigers went on a 10-1 run that stretched the first and second periods, but Kentucky State only trailed by two at the break.

It was a tie ball game with 2:32 left in the third quarter on a Kee layup, however, TU finished the quarter by scoring seven of the last eight points. The deficit grew to nine points early in the final quarter before the Thorobreds went into lockdown mode and sealed the victory.

Wallace finished with her 17th double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Kiante Butts (Memphis, TN) channeled her inner Dennis Rodman to pull down nine rebounds, six on the defensive end and five of the defensive boards coming in the second half.

Jones and junior Amani Williams (Scotch Plains, NJ) added nine points for the Thorobreds.