Birmingham, Ala. – A Hornets sting may hurt you but a Lion’s bite will make you bleed.
And fifth-seeded Arkansas-Pine Bluff advanced beating fourth-seeded Alabama State 64-52 in a close victory during the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals at the Birmingham-Jefferson Complex Center on Thursday evening.
The Golden Lions (12-18) have suffered the sting of the Alabama State Hornets (10-20) before.
Led by head coach Danny Evans, a former assistant coach at Southern, the Lady Lions split with the Lady Hornets during their two previous encounters, winning 55-51 at home on Jan. 6th and losing on Feb. 3rd 54-61.
In the last game the Lady Lions fell from the sting of the Lady Hornets by shooting only 22.7 percent from field and concluding with their lowest three-point percentage of the season with 18.2 percent. However this time the Lady Lions showed up and brought a different ball game. The Lady Lions finished the game shooting 36.8 percent from the field, 50 percent from behind the arch, and 62.1 percent in free throws.
This by no means was an easy win. The more that Pine Bluff scored the more Alabama State fought.
“Our team played like warriors,” said Pine Bluff head coach Danny Evans. “It was a very physical game but we were able to fight tooth and nail and hold on.”
During the end of the first half the Lady Lion trailed the Lady Hornets by two points and shot 9-of-35 from the field.
With :13 seconds left until halftime Lady Lion freshman guard Tashalya Jackson tied the game with 24-24 with a lay-up. But Lady Hornets junior guard Shantae Robinson answered with a lay-up giving Alabama State a 26-24 lead by halftime.
“We came out and kind of struggled,” said Evans. “But in the end we were able to stand the test and were able to get a great win.”
During the first 4:50 of the second half, Pine Bluff found themselves tied with Alabama State three times. Down by one with a score of 32-33 and 15:10 minutes to go, Lady Lion senior forward Latoya Thomas went for two at the free throw line and made one shot to pull Pine Bluff even at 33-33. She then hit the other shot to give her team a 34-33 advantage and from there the Lady Lions never looked back.
This is the first time that the Lady Lions will advanced pass the SWAC Tournament’s first round, so the team is elated about being able to play another game.
“We’ve made history tonight,” said Evans. “And we have to make sure that we keep the same effort that we had tonight throughout the entire tournament.”
The leading Lady Lions were junior guard Delores Hughley with 23 points and Jackson adding 13.
The loss hurt Alabama State but they look forward to coming back to the SWAC tournament next year and doing a lot better.
“It is always disappointing to end like this,” said Lady Hornets head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson. “But I have some young girls and I look forward to working with them next season and we hope to come back next year and win.”
The top performers for the Lady Bulldogs were sophomore guard/forward Capri Taylor with 11 and freshman forward Assunta Fulgham 10 points.
“I thought that we did some good things but nothing good enough to win,” said Freeman-Jackson. “We played good defense but gave up offensive rebounds.”
The Lady Lions will face top-seeded Jackson State Lady Tigers on Friday, March 8th at 5:30p.m.
“When we play Jackson we have to make sure that we stay on Shelita Burns because she is their main person,” said Evans. “And we have to keep the effort up.”