It All Falls Down: Lady Jaguars lose to Alabama State in SWAC championship Game

For the second consecutive year, Southern University women’s basketball team has fallen to the Hornets of Alabama State University. From March 8 to March 12 in the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, the Lady Jaguars fought relentlessly in the tournament as the number two seed to reach their ultimate goal of achieving a championship.
After beating Mississippi Valley State, Alcorn State University and Texas Southern, the Lady Jaguars finally met their match. On Saturday March 12, Southern faced Alabama State University for the third time this season, losing to the Hornets 55-51.
Alabama State led by 16 points during the game. Southern University trailed by 6 after the first quarter and thirteen at the half. The Jaguars prevailed in the third quarter cutting the lead from 14 to 6 with Cortnei Purnell and Briana Green leading the way. The sophomore and junior duo combined for 27 points while Purnell grabbed 7 rebounds. Briana Green was named all-tournament team .
Alabama’s Britney Wright and Daniele Ewert ended the game in double digit points. Wright finished with 17 while Ewert with added 12 for the Hornets. They were both named All-Tournament Team and Wright received MVP for the game.
The second half of the game was dominated by Southern who outscored the Hornets by 7 points in the third quarter and two in the fourth. With just two minutes left to play, Southern was down by 4 points before Guard Maiya Crowder scored a lay-up for the Jaguars. The following one point play from the Hornets resulted from a foul also committed by Southern’s center Crowder.
With only 11 seconds remaining in the game, Sophomore Briana fouled Alabama’s Britney wright who went on to go 1-2 from the line. After a defensive rebound from Courtnei Purnell, Senior Britney Washington shot a three-pointer ,but couldn’t get it to fall. The last 6 seconds consisted of Alabama State holding the ball until the buzzer sounded.
Washington played in her last game for Southern University along with three other seniors. Washington has played in over 100 games and scored over 1000 points during her four year career. Although she missed the first 6 games of the due to injury, she led the Jaguars in scoring for nine games this season. The guard averaged 13.9 points and was voted on to the leagues first team all conference team for the 2015-2016 season. This game concludes head coach Sandy Pugh’s sixth winning season out of her 16-year career thus far.
Both teams ended the season 19-11, have an automatic bid to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament and they haven’t had that chance since 2011.
Southern heads to Jonesboro, Arkansas to play Arkansas State on March 17.