The Lady Panthers have the chance to exact revenge on the hardwood at 3 p.m. Saturday vs. Southern on senior night. Much like at the end of the 2012 season, Prairie View A&M is peaking at the right time, having won four games in a row and seven of its last 10 games. PV will honor seniors Kiara Etienne, JaQuandria Williams and Latia Williams in a pre-game ceremony.
With the longest win streak in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and its fate already sealed as the No. 4 seed in the SWAC Tournament, Prairie View A&M is playing to finish the regular season at .500 and to carry some much-needed momentum into the postseason. The Lady Panthers (13-14, 10-7 SWAC) finished last year on a three-game regular season win streak and ended up running the table in the conference tournament. Nothing is guaranteed, but taking down the current No. 2 seed in Southern would be a definite confidence builder.
Southern (13-15, 12-5 SWAC) defeated PV 60-55 on Jan. 4 at the F.G. Clark Activity Center in Baton Rouge, La. The Lady Panthers shot 37 percent from the field in that match up and lost despite guards Jeanette Jackson and LaReahn Washington scoring 14 points each and senior forward Latia Williams going for a double-double with 12 points and 16 boards. The Panthers had trouble containing the Southern perimeter duo of Kendra Coleman and Adrian Sanders as they were effective in a multitude of ways.
Coleman did her damage from the three point line and the foul line, with a combined 12 points from the two ranges. Sanders made her living by taking defenders off of the dribble and finishing at the basket or in the mid-range.
The Lady Panthers do holster the conference's No. 1 scoring defense and have been on fire on that side of the ball lately. They are allowing 57.2 points per game this season.
Offensively, PV will look for the usual suspects to take care of business. Latia Williams is averaging 13 points and 9.0 rebounds this season and is second in the SWAC statistically in both categories. Kiara Etienne is fresh off of an 18-point performance in a 61-59 win over Alcorn State. She is averaging 10.3 points this season.
