NASHVILLE — The Tennessee State women's basketball team forced 30 turnovers and had 15 steals, and withstood a late 11-3 run to defeat Lipscomb 50-49 on Wednesday evening at Allen Arena.

Tatyana Davis led the team with 11 points off the bench in her first appearance as a non-starter. Alexis Pierce had nine points on 4-of-6 from the floor. Dominique Claytor had another all-around performance with eight points and nine rebounds in 29 minutes. 

TSU's defense was stellar at times during the contest as Coach Evans' squad used a full-court press and forced multiple turnovers on in-bounds that led to easy layups. The Lady Tigers finished with 24 points off turnovers. 

Despite being outrebounded, 43-35, the Lady Tigers controlled the offensive glass (13-8) and scored 26 points in the paint and 11 on the second chance. 

With the score tied 28-all with 6:09 left in the third, TSU went on an 8-0 run and nearly finished the period leading by double digits, but a Blythe Pearson 3-pointer for Lipscomb put its deficit to 40-33. 

TSU took its largest lead of the contest by 11 (44-33) off a Saniah Parker jumper with 7:04 left to play. Lipscomb thought made a near comeback and ahd a chance to send the game to overtime with less than a second remaining but Dorrie Harrison missed the second free throw to secure the win for the Lady Tigers. 

Pearson led Lipscomb with 20 points. 

The Lady Tigers hit the sunny skies of Florida for a weekend at the 34th Annual Hatter Classic, Hosted by Stetson. TSU will face VCU on Saturday at noon and then the host Hatters on Sunday morning at 10 a.m.