ITTA BENA, Miss. --- The Lady Hornets of Alabama State came into the R.W. Harrison Complex with sound defense and one win against the Devilettes, but the chemistry that the Devilettes have formed midway through the season created a problem for the Lady Hornets. Despite, early injuries for the Devilettes they've finally started to gel.

The Devilettes had great ball movement and defense in Saturday afternoon's contest against the Lady Hornets, which forced the Lady Hornets to take shots they didn't want to. Mississippi Valley also took 13 more shots than Alabama State in the first half, which allowed the Devilettes to outscore their opponent in the third quarter and hold the lead through the majority of the game. Both teams had a poor shooting during the first half with the Devilettes shooting 37.5 percent from field, and the Lady Hornets shooting 33.3 percent. The Devilettes missed six free throws in the first half, yet still managed to take a four-point lead into halftime (33-29).

The Devilettes outscored the Lady Hornet 18-14 in the third quarter after a slow three quarters from both teams; however, the fourth quarter was the game changer. Leading scorer, Kristy Parker fouled out allowing the Lady Hornets to breath freely for the first time all afternoon. As a result, Alabama State turned up the notch on Mississippi Valley with just under four minutes remaining in the contest.

With two minutes left in the game, the Lady Hornets took a three-point lead, and Shamyiah Smith's and-one put the ASU up 63-57; the Devilettes trailed the remainder of the quarter. With Parker out of the game, the Devilettes struggled with getting their shots to fall, while on the other end the Lady Hornets went on a run. To save time, the Devilettes fouled numerous times with under a minute left in the game and the Lady Hornets capitalized at the line winning 70-62.

In the last-minute loss, Parker ended the contest with 17 points before fouling out. LaKendra Bassett added 13 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds followed by eight points each by MaKayla Bonner and Sydney Floyd in the loss.

The Devilettes' bench contributed 13 points. The afternoon ended on 34.9 percent from field and 61.9 percent from the charity stripe, which hurt them in the end once the Lady Hornets started fighting back from the deficit.

The Devilettes will end their four-game home play Monday night against the 3-6 (8-12 overall) Lady Bulldogs of Alabama A&M before heading to Lorman, Mississippi, to start their weekend road play. Tipoff will be at 5:30 p.m. in the R.W. Harrison Complex.