Southern women edge Jackson St.

JACKSON, Miss. — Two days after a disappointing road loss, as the Southern women’s basketball team prepared to face Jackson State, coach Sandy Pugh gathered her players for a pregame speech.

Her message was clean and concise.

“This game here was a must-win for us,” Pugh said. “To me, this game is our character check. Do we have enough to win it all? If we win this game, we’ve got what it takes.”

Ultimately, the Jaguars passed their test.

Laneisha Stephens scored 15 points to lead four Southern players in double figures, and Kendra Coleman delivered a game-clinching 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down as Southern erased a 10-point second-half deficit to win, 65-60, Monday night at the Williams Athletic and Assembly Center.

In doing so, the Jaguars remained alone in second place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings, one game behind Mississippi Valley State, with plenty of time to close the gap.

Southern (9-9, 8-3) returns home to face last-place Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday, followed by a showdown with Valley on Feb. 13.

Coleman, Jasmine Jefferson and Adrian Sanders scored 10 points apiece for the Jaguars, who shot 52 percent from the floor after halftime. Sanders had a team-high seven rebounds, and Stephens, playing of her 31 minutes in the high post, had a team-high five assists.

Lechell Rush also had several key baskets and rebounds down the stretch.

JSU (9-11, 6-5) got 16 points from center Tiffany Kellum and 13 points from Rachel Jones, but the Lady Tigers faltered down the stretch.

They took a 56-55 lead on a nifty underneath move by Kellum, but Southern answered with an 8-1 run.

Freshman Jessica Thomas scored on an inbounds play underneath the goal, and Coleman followed with her 3-pointer from the left wing with 53 seconds remaining.

“When she released it from her hand, I knew it was money,” Pugh said.

JSU missed three straight shots on its next possession, and the Jaguars put the game away at the free-throw line.

Jackson State center Kiana McCarty, the team’s second-leading scorer, played only two minutes, nursing an apparent nagging injury.

“Our kids put up a heck of a fight being short-handed,” JSU interim coach Larry McNeil said.

That they did.

The Lady Tigers had already tripped up Southern once this season, surprising the Jaguars 49-42 on their home floor on Jan. 9.

The Jaguars won four of their next five games, but looked sloppy and out of rhythm during long stretches of their 60-59 loss at Grambling on Saturday afternoon.

As a result, the team had what Pugh called an “intense” practice Sunday, the day before it faced JSU.

“It was about us re-focusing,” she said. “I had to get down there in the post and show them what ‘Big Mama’ means in the lane, and I think it helped us. I think it helped our confidence level going into this game.”

The Jaguars also tried a different lineup, with three freshmen — Coleman, Jefferson and Jessica Thomas — starting Monday’s game, as well as Stephens, a junior, taking the place of senior Jamie Floyd.

But Southern was sluggish in the first half, often settling for outside jumpers. SU trailed by only four points at halftime, but fell farther behind at the beginning of the second half, 39-29, prompting Pugh to take a timeout.

Southern pulled ahead 48-47 with 8:06 remaining when Stephens scored on a short baseline jumper in transition.

The teams traded the lead until late in the game, when the Jaguars pulled away.

“I was just happy to see those kids step up in the second half, in the last seven minutes of the ball game,” Pugh said.

In doing so, they passed the test.