ITTA BENA, Miss. -  Although the first half was a sluggish one, there were bright spots for the Devilettes, as they hosted the top ranked Southwestern Athletic Conference Southern Lady Jaguars.

Mississippi Valley was able to smother the fire blazing through SU's leading scorer, Briana Green. Green opened the game with a bucket, after the Lady Jags won the opening tip. After two empty trips to the basket for SU, the Devilettes took a 5-2 lead.

The defense was at work early, forcing Southern turnovers. With a five-guard lineup, the Devilettes outrebounded the Lady Jags, and both Kenya Arnold and Makayla Bonner traded and-1 opportunities that put the Devilettes up 13-5. After a turnover and the inability to capitalize on second chance points, Southern went on a 7-0 run, and the Lady Jag's activeness on defense helped pull them within one of the Devilettes to end the quarter 17-16.

Junior guard, LaKendra Bassett didn't score her first buckets until 1:14 in the second quarter with a fast break caused by Desiray Mosley and again one play later, when she was sent to the charity stripe, where she sunk both of her free throws which ended the half with the Devilettes trailing the Lady Jags by only three points (27-30).

Southern's early fatigue and a quiet shooting half for Valley is pretty much what kept the score neck and neck throughout the second quarter. There were four lead changes throughout the first half with Valley's biggest lead being eight.

Kristy Parker scored a jumper by creating separation for herself with seven seconds left on the shot clock to put the first basket on the board of the third period for the Devilettes. Pressure from SU's full court press ultimately changed the tempo of the game, and despite a slow shooting night the Devilettes stayed within three when Mosley went coast to coast with just over three minutes remaining in the quarter.

After being neck and neck most of the game, the Lady Jags started to breakaway from the tenacious Devilettes, and created a 13-point gap.

Despite outrebounding the Lady Jags, the Southern outscored the Devilettes in the paint 26 to 22, in steals 11 to 7, and in second chance points 11 to 6. Although the Devilettes had three players in double digits, it was not enough to pull away with a win. Parker tallied 13-points, Mosley added 12-points and six steals, and Bonner was the third Devilette in double figures with 11.

Coach Walker and the Devilettes will began a two-game road trip to Texas with the first game against the Lady Tigers of Texas Southern on January 20^th and the Lady Panthers of Prairie View A&M on January 22^nd.