SU women fall behind, drop second straight
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — For the first time in more than two years, the Southern women’s basketball team has lost back-to-back games in Southwestern Athletic Conference play.
The Jaguars’ latest defeat might have hurt more than usual.
Monday night in the Dunn-Oliver Acadome, Alabama State owned a big advantage in rebounds and held Southern to 21-percent shooting in a 52-39 victory that damaged the Jaguars’ quest for a regular-season conference championship.
Southern’s loss, coupled with Mississippi Valley State’s 82-48 win over Texas Southern, dropped the Jaguars into second place in the SWAC standings.
With three regular-season games to go, Southern trails Valley by one game.
The Jaguars (11-11, 10-5) wrap up their season with a trip to Alcorn State on Saturday, followed by a two-game homestand against Texas Southern and Prairie View.
Valley finishes with three road games, two of which are against teams in the lower half of the standings.
Monday night, Southern trailed by five points late in the first half but gave up back-to-back 3-pointers to Erica Henderson, and the Lady Hornets took an 11-point into halftime.
Jamie Floyd had a team-high 13 points, but no other Southern player scored in double figures.
Essence Hopkins added eight points and led the team with five rebounds and six steals.
“The kids played hard. They guarded, they forced turnovers,” 12th-year coach Sandy Pugh said. “We just didn’t do a good job of putting the ball in the hole.”
Star freshman Kendra Coleman, nursing a sprained knee, finished with just two points. She was 0-for-11 from 3-point range.
“We were fighting and scrapping, getting in the passing lanes on defense,” Pugh said. “Even if we had just shot 40 percent, we would’ve won. It was just one of those nights.”
Alabama State (11-12, 8-6) won for the fifth time in its last seven games, despite committing 29 turnovers. The Lady Hornets prevailed in large part because they had a 47-32 edge in rebounds and shot 43 percent from the floor.
Danielle Gazaway led ASU with 13 points.
Millicent Jones and Erica Henderson added 10 points apiece for the Lady Hornets, who led by 24 points midway through the second half.
“Valley, Southern, Alcorn (State) and (Alabama) A&M are tough teams to play because they are so physical, but we know we have to come out strong from the start and keep the tempo up throughout the game,” ASU coach Freda Freeman-Jackson said.
“I told my girls before the game that you know we’ll have to go through Southern to win the SWAC title, so let’s go out and capture a victory tonight.”
Monday marked the first time SU lost two straight games to SWAC opponents since 2009-10, when the team opened conference play with two road losses at Prairie View and Texas Southern.