Southern learns postseason fate

 
The Southern University women’s basketball team will have postseason play after all.
Pamela Smith, Southern University athletic department’s senior woman administrator, confirmed Tuesday that the women’s basketball team will play in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament beginning March 16.
The Jaguars will travel to New Orleans Thursday to take on Tulane in the first round of the 64-team tournament. Tip-off  is 7 p.m. at Tulane’s Fogleman Arena, and game tickets range from $6 to $16.
“We’re happy to be going and to find out that we’re going up the street and that our fans have the chance to see the kids play one more time and compete here in the state of Louisiana is just awesome,” head coach Sandy Pugh said.
The WNIT awards an automatic berth to the team that finishes the highest during the regular season, but doesn’t reach the NCAA Tournament. Southern won the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season title, the team’s third in three years.
“We signed the forms and told them we wanted to get in,” Smith said. “We faxed them over around 4:30 p.m. (Monday) and about nine o’clock they called and told us they were going to keep us on the grounds.”
After Saturday’s 48-44 loss to Prairie View in the SWAC Tournament championship, 11-year coach Sandy Pugh said the team would not accept the invitation because of finances.
In the event an automatic qualifier declines the invitation, then the conference forfeits its spot and that berth goes into the at-large pool. The WNIT helps offset the cost of travel and teams pay no more than $9,000 combined for all of their road games in the postseason. This allows teams to budget for their postseason play and doesn’t penalize them for winning.
“I was recently told we didn’t have the funds to go,” Pugh said. “The boosters, after speaking with the kids decided they wanted to afford the kids an opportunity to go.” They signed off on the papers yesterday about four.”
 Southern’s last appearance in the WNIT was 2009, a 72-44 loss at New Mexico.