Women claims share of SWAC title

Place any animal in a hostile environment and he (or she in this case) will fight to get out of the situation.
Fight is what the Southern University women’s basketball team (21-4, 15-1 SWAC) did, Saturday, February 23, in Lorman, MS, as they went on to defeat the Lady Braves of Alcorn State University(12-11, SWAC 9-7) 70-61, at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
The Jaguars felt their second-half lead dwindle, just at it had in their only conference loss of the season, against Alabama State University.
But this time around they fought back.
“We were hungry to get back on the court,” Southern head coach Sandy Pugh said.
An inability to make free throws at pivotal moments was a key factor in their loss to Alabama State.
This time, Southern stepped up their game, going 8-11 from the free-throw line, in the second half.
“We had to pick up our game,” said Tammy Bullock, who had four blocks. “We didn’t want them to come back on us like Alabama State did.”
Leading the Jaguars to victory were 5-feet-8-inch guard Jacklyn Winfield, Shreveport native Cherise Sims and Bullock.
Winfield, who got into foul early in the first half, ended the night with 17 points and three assists. Sims produced 15 points, five rebounds and three assists. Bullock contributed 13 points and five rebounds to the win.
“Jackie got in early foul trouble, which threw a monkey wrench at us,” Pugh said. “But Kerby Jones came in and did a wonderful job for us. She, Ruth Buck and Felicia Gray were heroes for us tonight, keeping us in the game.”
Leading the Lady Braves were Keairra Levy with 17 points and Tosin Fadeyi with 11 points and five rebounds.
Going into the second half the Jaguars led Alcorn by two points, with the score Southern 32, Alcorn State 30.
“For us to lead at halftime with Jackie on the bench for 15 minutes, that’s pretty good. I was real pleased with the bench effort,” stated Pugh.
The Jaguars outscored the Lady Braves 21-5, holding them to one field goal, in almost ten minutes, to enter the last three minutes of the second half up 61-43.
After a ten-point surge by Alcorn State, the game came to an end, Jaguars 70, Lady Hornets 61.
With that win over Alcorn the Jaguars clinched at least a share of the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season title. The win was also their first at Alcorn since 1993.
The women will be back in action, Saturday, March 2, in Seymour Gymnasium, against Texas Southern University, at 5:30 p.m.