BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Another storybook ending happened at the 2004 Southwestern Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament.
It was 4.2 seconds on the clock when sophomore guard Rolanda Monroe closed out the game by hitting two free-throws to help Southern University women’s team to eliminate Jackson State hopes of making it to the finals winning 48-47 in Fair Park Arena.
“I didn’t have any doubts,” said Monroe.
Down 47-46 with 9.7 seconds left in the game, Monroe drove from the left side of the three-point line before being fouled by sophomore guard Shante Standord.
As the leading scorer for the Jags, Monroe with15 shot 7-of-7 from the line. She added four assists, four rebounds, and three steals. In tournament play, Monroe is a flawless 23-for-23 from the free throw line.
“I’ve thought all year long that this team was capable of doing good things,” said Southern head coach Sandy Pugh.
Giant of the low-post game, Lady Tigers’ 6’7 senior center, Amie Williams struggled against Southern’s 6’4, freshman of the year center Fredreika Lewis. Lewis’ defensive performance held the veteran Williams to eight points and eight rebounds.
Williams, the 2004 SWAC Defensive Player of the Year, shot 3-for-11 from the field, missing terribly on several shots, while shooting 2-for-8. For the season, Williams averages 18.1 points per game and 9.3 rebounds.
Both teams started off very sloppy, shooting below 35 percent. Southern shot 23.7 percent and Jackson State finished with 33.3 percent in the first half. Between the 15:24 and 11:18 mark, neither team scored. At halftime the score was an even 19-19.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well, I thought we had a lot of easy looks under the basket and they didn’t fall,” Pugh said.
In the end, the Jaguars connected on 29.4 percent (20-for-68) of their shots and the Tigers had 30.4 percent (14-for-46).
Lewis ended the game with 10 points and seven rebounds. Jaguars sophomore guard Ashley Blake posted the games only double-double performance, scoring 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
The Lady Tigers had given the Jaguars trouble early in the season beating them twice, the first time at the Jags’ home territory in Baton Rouge by a score of 60-49 on January 12, then on Feb. 9 in Jackson, Miss. Southern fell 56-53.
Southern can now put the win behind them when they face the Delta Devillettes in the 2004 SWAC women’s basketball championship game at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Southern finished the SWAC regular season 2-0 against Mississippi Valley.
