Women’s basketball pick up win against Henderson

In their second exhibition game of the season, the Southern University Jaguars women’s basketball team defeated Henderson State 68-54 Wednesday at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
Jaguars’ head coach Sandy Pugh used the game as an opportunity to test the freshmen on the team skills. Freshman center Fredreika Lewis shot 10 points and grabbed 3 rebounds while sophomore guard Ashley Blake scored 12 points and gave away 4 assists.
Pugh substituted the players to grab an idea of “who would fit where” when the regular season began.
“I was trying to find somebody to guard, somebody to handle or to penetrate. Just somebody to do anything like we were supposed to be doing it,” Pugh said.
By halftime, four rookies and senior forward Shere’ Cunningham were leading by 37-17.
Cunningham scored 20 points, two assists and six rebounds in the win.
After seeing only 11 minutes on the court, sophomore guard Rolanda Moore watched the ladies from the bench. Moore had sustained a knee injury during practice on Monday.
Lady Reddies’ head coach Jeff Cladwell mentioned that his team of six was trying to manage with only one guard and they were not very potent offensively.
“I give Southern a lot of credit for realizing that and jumping on us,” said Cladwell. “We didn’t do a good job on handling earlier, I told them that we have to toughen up and we got a little better.”
Although the Lady Reddies were short-staffed, they capitalized off the Jaguars’ turnovers and closed a 25-point gap down to as much as 12 but could not get any closer.
Pugh said that she was not pleased with the SU turnovers.
“There was very sloppy play. A team losing focus is a sign of inexperience, so we have to stay focused,” Pugh said. “We’re in the building phase. We have a lot of young kids and young talent, so they have to learn a lot faster.”
The Jags will have to pick up their pace and practice hard because their next game is in the University of Minnesota Tournament in Minneapolis, Minn. scheduled on November 22-23. Southern will face Minnesota in the first game.