BATON ROUGE, La. - A second half surge by Southern broke open a deadlocked game and created a tight situation for the Lady Panthers in the SWAC standings as they dropped a 69-59 decision to the Jaguars in Baton Rouge, La. on Thursday night.
Prairie View A&M set the tone from the opening tip as Asha Hampton-Finch scored five of the first 10 points during an early 10-2 lead with 14:42 remaining. Southern closed the gap to 10-8 but the Lady Panther defense took control and forced SU to miss its next four shots which in turn fueled their offense as the lead increased to 17-8 at the 11:16 mark after Jeanette Jackson's basket.
The shots stopped falling for the Lady Panthers as they missed their next three baskets but Gabrielle Scott drained a timely triple for a 20-12 advantage nearly three minutes later. Once again, Southern charged back to within 20-18 but freshman Alexus Parker answered with a three-pointer for a 23-18 advantage.
The gates caved in for the Lady Panthers over the next three minutes as the roles reversed with Southern finding the hot hand while PVAMU struggled to find its shot. During that span, Southern went 4-of-5 from the field while PVAMU missed five straight jumpers en route to a 30-25 lead with 2:17 left on the clock. Jackson ended the drought with a jumper at the 1:36 mark and the Lady Panther defense held SU scoreless for the rest of the half as a triple by Jackson from NBA range sent both teams into the locker room tied at 30-all.
A pair of free throws and a basket by Parker propelled the Lady Panthers to an early 34-32 second half lead but SU's Britney Washington countered with a jumper immediately after Parker's score and gave SU a lead they would never relinquish.
The deficit grew to 39-34 after four missed shots by PVAMU but Gabrielle Scott injected a much-needed three-pointer at the 15:48 mark to bring PVAMU within 39-37. Even though Scott made the trey, the Lady Panthers struggled defensively as they were forced to match SU's output over the next five minutes to stay in the game.
Taylor Overshown closed the gap to 45-44 with 12:53 left in the half with a three-pointer and the Lady Panther defense forced an SU miss on the ensuing possession. However, the Lady Panthers missed their next attempt which led to an Adrian Sanders' basket and a 47-44 deficit. Outside of a three-pointer by Gabrielle Scott at the 8:18 mark, things kept going south for Prairie View A&M as Southern's lead grew to 11 at 58-47 partly due to a trio of turnovers and missed buckets.
Despite the deficit, the Lady Panthers continued to fight as they went on a 7-0 run to close within 60-54 at the 2:51 mark. They would cut the gap to six points once again with 1:23 left but missed shots down the stretch combined with solid free throw by Southern proved to be too much to overcome.
Gabrielle Scott led PVAMU with 15 points followed by Alexus Parker's double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jackson added 12 points while Hampton-Finch finished with 12 rebounds and nine points.
With Jackson State's win over Alabama A&M on Thursday, Saturday's regular season finale is a must-win as a win clinches the No. 3 seed in next week's SWAC Tournament while a loss and a JSU win would drop PVAMU to the No. 4 seed.
Prairie View A&M faces Alcorn State at 3 p.m. on Saturday in Alcorn State, Miss.
