Jags look to gain steam

 
The Southern women’s basketball team battled through bouts of inconsistent play, attrition and injuries throughout the season to get to the end with a chance to clinch a share of the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season title and lock up a high seed in next week’s SWAC Tournament.
However, as the Jaguars (12-11, 11-5 SWAC) enter their final two home games of the regular season, one person is not satisfied with their current position – head coach Sandy Pugh.
“Most coaches would be happy if all of those things happen to them and they were still sitting in second place,” said Pugh Wednesday, noting the Jaguars lost three guards who were suppose to play this year. The injuries began piling up during the season, forcing Pugh to burn redshirts to have available players that could contribute.
“I’m not real happy with being in second place, its not a familiar thing,” she said. ”You might as well be last, because either way it goes your still losing.”
Southern finishes the regular season this weekend at the F.G. Clark Activity Center, beginning with tonight at 5:30 p.m. against Prairie View A&M (12-15, 9-7) and ending Saturday at 2 p.m. against Texas Southern (4-23, 2-14).
Pugh is a winner the last time the Jaguars were under .500 was the 2007-08 year and with four SWAC regular season championships, four NCAA Tournament and two Women’s NIT Tournament appearances under your belt, you always have high expectation for your team.
This year the has not been the season Jaguars fans are accustomed to, The Jaguars have had problems controlling the ball averaging 19 turnovers a game.
“Understanding intensity and taking care of the basketball have been issues for us the entire season,” said coach Pugh.
Southern has one the SWAC regular season two years running and this year the Jaguars will need a lot of help in order to three peat, they will need to win their last two games and will need Mississippi Valley State to lose its next game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff which is unlikely knowing that Golden Lions have one lonely win this year.
The Jaguars know if they will be successful they will need freshman guard Kendra Coleman who leads the team averaging 13 points a game, Southern will need Coleman to make smart decisions with the ball and be the shooter that she capable of being.
“We’re playing basketball better as a team, our shot selection has definitely gotten better we got to continue to continue to have good leadership out of Adrian (Sanders) and Kendra hopefully is going to come around,” said Pugh.
The Jaguars have the formula to be successful in the postseason, they have players to control the paint, they have production at the guard position, and can shoot the three ball the women have the potential to control every team they play but are lacking the confidence.
“This team has an issue with self-confidence on some occasions at this stage in their season that can’t be a factor in our play,” said Pugh.