SAVANNAH, Ga. - The 4th seeded Allen University women's basketball team saw their 14-win season come to an end Monday evening as they could not hold off the 5th seeded Lady Marauders of Central State (OH) falling 79-68 in the opening round of the 2023 TIAA SIAC Basketball Championship presented by Cricket. The week-long tournament is being hosted by Savannah State University at Tiger Arena.

This was the first year that Allen's men's and women's basketball programs played in the conference tournament as they make the transition to full-time NCAA Div. II member.
The Allen Ladies finished their first full year in the SIAC with a 14-13 record overall and 8-11 in the conference while Central State improved to 11-13 and advances to a Wednesday Quarterfinal matchup against #1 seed Tuskegee.

Allen was led by four-time Newcomer of the Week, guard Keyshuna Fair as she scored 18 points while shooting 4 of 8 from behind the arc and played a team-high 28 minutes. She also added 4 rebounds and 2 steals before fouling out. Also playing well was fellow junior guard Destinee Jamison-Whitfield scoring 12 points with 8 rebounds, 2 assists and a block.

Allen got out to a slow start scoring just 6 points in the opening quarter as they fell into an early 18-6 hole. AU then went on a 13-4 run in the second quarter getting to within 3 points at 22-19 with 5:30 to play. However, CSU would extend it to seven at the break leading 32-25 at the intermission.

The Lady Yellow Jackets then found their offense in the third quarter outscoring the Marauders 28-22 while climbing to within one point at 54-53 on a Tatanyi Morris three at the buzzer. In the fourth, CSU would again increase their lead to seven at 63-56 with 7 minutes to play until the Jackets made one final run. Back-to-back threes from Jamison and Fair plus free throws from Jamison-Whitfield and another three by DJW gave Allen their only lead of the game going up 67-64 to complete a 11-1 run with 5 minutes to play. 

Unfortunately, that would be the last basket of the game the Jackets would make over the final five minutes as CSU finished the game on a 15-1 run for the win.

Allen held CSU to just 28 percent shooting from the floor and only 25 percent from three.
However, the difference came at the free-throw line with CSU making 26 of 41 freebies while Allen managed just 17 of 28 as the teams combined for 45 total fouls. Central also only made 14 turnovers while they forced AU into 28.

Freshman forward Talayah Boxley finished out her rookie campaign with 6 points and 9 rebounds while fellow freshman wing Ananda Mayhew recorded 11 points with a block and steal. Senior guard Jazeem Bethea also added 6 points and 6 boards before fouling out while junior Kayla Pope and senior Symone Jackson combined for 8 points and 10 rebounds. Pope also had a team-best 4 assists while Jackson blocked two shots.