BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Jackson State’s head coach Denise Taylor stated that her team didn’t make shots nor free throws and if they were going to win championships, they have to make free-throws. The No. 1 seed Lady Tigers of Jackson State couldn’t keep up the fight losing to the No. 4 seed Lady Bulldogs of Alabama State 64-55 in the quarterfinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament.
“The one thing that jumped out was free throws,” Taylor said. “We didn’t make shots’, there were a lot of hard fouls and I thought our kids were taken out the game mentally.”
The Lady Tigers’ only made 51.4 percent of their free throws and 34.0 percent of field goals in the match-up. They fought back taking the lead for the first time with a lay up by first team All-SWAC player Shelita Burns making the score 36-35 with 15:14 remaining.
They struggled to come back moving the score within one point with a 3-pointer by Lashonda Gains pushing the score to 50-49 with 7:47 left. A three by Shante Stanford moved the score back to a one-point margin after a free throw shot by Jackson’s Latille Ross. The score moved in favor of the Hornets because of missed free throws by the Lady Tigers making the final score a 10 point difference.
“Coming into the game, we knew we had to do a good job on Shelita Burns, although she scored 17 points that 17 points could have been 24 points,” said Alabama State’s coach Freda Freeman-Jackson. “Overall we did an excellent job containing her, because she’s a real good post player. We wanted to put her on the line, because we knew she was not a great free throw shooter.”
Burns led her team with 17 points going 6-for-15 from the line, while Stanford had 15 points with 2-of-5 3-pointers, Carena Easley contributed 13 and Gains 8.
“Then also, we did a good job on number 24 (Stanford),” Freeman-Jackson said. “Because when they played against Arkansas Pine Bluff she scored six 3’s in a row, we didn’t want to give her any open looks. I know they were in double figures, but it could have been worst.”
The Lady Hornets kept Jackson State to a 6-0 run after scoring the first basket of the game. The Lady Tiger’s couldn’t get the ball to fall through, only limited to one shot every minute. Burns free throw moved the Lady Tiger’s within 15 points followed by Easley’s two moving the score to 20-7 with 8:29 remaining in the first half.
After a media timeout the Lady Tiger’s shots began to fall starting with a 3-pointer by Stanford bringing the score within eight points 30-22. Easley’s two points and a last second play by the Hornets Tashia Holston ended the first half at 32-23.
Latille Ross led the Hornets with 18 points and 17 rebounds. Shantae Robinson had 12 points and L’Teisha Holloway 10.
Alabama State will go on to face Southern University in the tournament championship game, Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
“We played aggressive defense and that’s how you have to play when you talk about tournament playing and when you win ball games,” Freeman-Jackson said. “Southern University they are one of the best teams in the SWAC, we have our work cut out. You are talking about Monroe, who is the SWAC’s player of the year, so we are going to have to figure out of way to contain her. That’s going to be our objective tomorrow.”
