Runaway: Women’s basketball defeats Prairie View in final regular-season game

On Saturday night the Jaguar women’s basketball team matched up against the Prarie View Panthers in their regular-season finale. Both teams came into the game with four-game win streaks. Southern in their last outing against Texas Southern won a close one. Winning this game would give momentum to Southern heading into the SWAC tournament. While also securing the third seed in the tournament.
The first quarter was a showcase of defense as Southern forced multiple turnovers. They struggled to score consistently but, they left the quarter only down two points. In the second quarter, Southern flipped the script on their opponents. Offensively, they came out with a new sense of urgency as they shot 50% from the field and 67% from the arch. They were led in scoring by sophomore guard Amani McWain who had nine points at the break. They also only allowed one make from the field from the Panthers. Southern exited the half holding a 15 point lead.
The second half was more or less the same for the Jaguars. They maintained the lead throughout and were able to slow down Prairie View. In the third quarter, Prarie View’s offense made a valiant effort to come back. They made the game competitive but, they were never able to fully recover. Southern continued to play solid defense and were able to close the book on the game in the fourth quarter.
The scoring leader for the Jags was once again Brittany Rose who scored 10 points. Once they jumped out to their huge lead in the first half they were able to seal it away in the second. Coach Carlos Funchess reiterated those sentiments as well. “It’s always good to build that lead so that you have a cushion to fall back on when they do make a run”. After the halftime Prarie View got it going offensively but, Coach Funchess simply told them to “maintain”. “We came out a little flat but, I’m thankful that we were able to hold on for the victory”.
With this win, Southern locked up the third seed in the conference and will faceoff once again against Prarie View. “They’re going to make adjustments and we’re going to make adjustments and it will be a chess match from here on out”. For Southern, they will most likely look to improve on their offensive consistency. In the second half, there were times where Southern just couldn’t seem to score. With a rematch against Prarie View looming, they might look to change strategies on that end of the floor.