FULL GAME NOTES (pdf)

Four-time defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Prairie View A&M opens Southwestern Athletic Conference play Saturday when they visit Southern University. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.

After being named to preseason All-SWAC First Team, Prairie View A&M senior guard Jeanette Jackson (Las Vegas, Nev. / Sierra Vista HS) has led the way for the Lady Panthers, averaging team- and conference-bests of 17.9 points and 4.3 assists per game. Jackson scored 20 points and handed out five assists in Prairie View's last game, a 108-64 loss at No. 6 Baylor on Monday.

The Panthers' inside game has been led by junior Shamiya Brooks (West Point, Ga. / Troupe HS). The 6-foot-4 post ranks second on the PVAMU squad with 6.3 points per game, and is sixth in the SWAC in rebounding, pulling in 7.2 caroms per contest.

Saturday's game at Southern will mark the first time the two teams will have faced each other since Prairie View A&M defeated the Lady Jaguars 72-43 in last season's SWAC Tournament semifinal. That win avenged Southern's season sweep of the Lady Panthers. Prairie View A&M has won eight of its last 15 meetings against Southern.

Last time out ...
The Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers returned from Christmas vacation and headed to Waco for a game at No. 6 Baylor. The Lady Bears, ranked No. 6 in both the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches top 25 polls, were simply too much for the Lady Panthers in a 108-64 Baylor win. The Bears outrebounded Prairie View A&M 70-21 and held a 30-2 advantage in second-chance points. Baylor also enjoyed a 74-28 advantage in points in the paint.

There were some bright spots for the Lady Panthers, as Jeanette Jackson and Lamaria Cole each poured in 20 points. Cole, a transfer from Baylor's Big 12 rival Kansas, set collegiate career highs in points, free throws attempted (11) and free throws made (eight). Alexus Parker scored a season-high 16 points for Prairie View A&M.
    
Comforts of home? No, home state!
This weekend's trip to Southern and Alcorn State will mark only the second time this season the Lady Panthers will have left the state of Texas. Though the Lady Panthers played only non-conference home game this season (a 90-38 win over Schreiner on Dec. 3), nine of their scheduled 12 non-conference games were played in Texas. This includes eight road games at fellow Texas opponents, with only two of those games – at TCU (Dec. 13) and at Texas–El Paso (Dec. 20) – more than 200 miles from the Prairie View A&M campus.

PVAMU played its only non-conference games out of state in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Shootout over Thanksgiving Weekend.
    
On the road
The Lady Panthers have not found the iron to be anymore unkind on the road than they do in other games, as the team is shooting 33.7 percent (186 of 552) during road games, the same field-goal percentage the Lady Panthers shoot in all games (33.7 percent, 248 of 736). When all games away from the Prairie View A&M campus are factored in, their field-goal percentage falls to 31.8 percent (211 of 664), but that includes two neutral-court losses to ranked opponents – then No. 5 Stanford and then No. 11 North Carolina in Hawaii.

Senior guard Jeanette Jackson (Las Vegas, Nev. / Sierra Vista High School) averages 17.5 points and 4.2 assists per game away from home, while Shamiya Brooks (West Point, Ga. / Troupe High School) leads the team in rebounding in such games with 7.0 boards per contest. The 6-foot-4 center also averages 6.1 points per game away from Prairie View.
    
Strength of schedule
Prairie View A&M's non-conference schedule featured four games against teams that were ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Division I Women's Basketball poll at the start of the season. The Lady Panthers conluded their non-conference schedule Monday at Baylor; the Bears were ranked No. 6 in the latest Associated Press poll and USA Today Coaches' Top 25 polls. All four ranked teams on the Lady Panthers' schedule are currently ranked 16th or higher in both polls.

The Lady Panthers faced three of those teams in a stretch of four games – a 59-41 loss at then-No. 7 Texas A&M on Nov. 24 and losses to North Carolina and Stanford in Honolulu, Hawaii, over Thanksgiving weekend. The Tar Heels and Cardinals were ranked No. 11 and No. 5, respectively at the time of their games against PVAMU.
    
Jackson leading the SWAC
As Southwestern Athletic Conference teams prepare to open league play, Prairie View A&M senior Jeanette Jackson has increased her lead in the conference's scoring race. The senior guard from Las Vegas, Nev. (Sierra Vista HS) leads the SWAC with a scoring average of 17.7 points per game. Jackson is shooting 31.7 percent from the floor (57 of 180), and has made 31.5 percent (23 of 73) of her 3-point attempts. She ranks second on the PVAMU squad in free-throw percentage, having made 72.5 (58 of 80) of her charity shots.

Jackson has also been the best distributor in the SWAC, as she leads the conference with 4.2 assists per game. She has handed out 46 helpers this season.

Bombs away!
Jeanette Jackson and Chelsey Rosier have proven themselves to be threats behind the 3-point arc, as both players rank in the SWAC's Top 10 in terms of 3-point percentage. The duo is partially responsible for Prairie View A&M ranking third as a team in the SWAC in 3-point percentage (27.3 percent, 56 of 205).

Rosier has made 31.8 percent (14 of 44) of her long range shots, good for fifth in the SWAC; Rosier is averaging 4.8 points per game. Meanwhile, Jackson ranks sixth in the conference, having made a league-best 25 3-pointers out of her 80 attempts, good for 31.3 percent.
    
Transferring their talents
The Lady Panthers welcomed five transfers to their squad for the 2014-15 season. Four of them come from the junior college ranks and one – Bryan, Texas product Lamaria Cole – from Kansas University. Cole and Gulf Coast State College transfer Chelsey Rosier are averaging 5.5 points and 5.3 points per game, respectively. The Lady Panthers also welcomed Winthrop University transfer Christina Solmon (Waltham Park, Jamaica) to the roster in their last game at Texas–El Paso. 
    
Parker heating up
Sophomore guard Alexus Parker (Savannah, Ga. / Calvary Day School) has started to find her shooting touch at just the right time as the Lady Panthers open Southwestern Athletic Conference play this weekend. After making only nine of her first 60 field-goal attempts (15 percent) through Prairie View A&M's first six games, the 5-foot-10-inch guard has heated up significantly, knocking down 19 of her last 48 shots, good for a 39.6 shooting percentage. 

The Lady Panthers are 3-3 during that stretch. In her last three games, Parker has shot 45 percent (13 of 29) from the floor, which included a season-high 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting at Baylor on Monday.
    
About the Jaguars
The Southern University Lady Jaguars bring a 2-8 record into their Southwestern Athletic Conference opener with Prairie View A&M. Saturday's game against the Lady Panthers will be the first for the Jaguars since Dec. 22, when they fell 68-52 to Georgia Southern to conclude the Gator Holiday Classic in Gainesville, Fla.

Like Prairie View A&M, the Jaguars have spent most of their time on the road this season playing formidable opponents. Six of their eight losses away from home came to member programs of the NCAA's "Power Five" conferences, including competitive losses at Illinois (L, 62-42) and Arizona (L, 56-45). Southern is 2-0 at home this season, with wins over Florida A&M and NAIA Division I opponent Mobile (Ala.).

The Jaguars are led by junior G/F Britney Washington and senior guard Kendra Coleman. The 5-foot-10-inch Washington leads the Jaguars by scoring 14.0 points per game, and is third on the team in rebounding, grabbing 4.4 caroms per contest. Coleman, a 5-foot-7 guard, averages 13 points per game.

The Jaguars rank 10th out of 10 SWAC teams in scoring defense, giving up an average of 76.6 points per game. 
    
Prairie View A&M vs. Southern
Since the NCAA began sponsoring women's basketball in the 1981-82 season, Southern has compiled a 52-20 record against Prairie View A&M. The Lady Panthers' .278 winning percentage against Southern is the second-lowest percentage against a SWAC opponent in the NCAA era, after Jackson State (18-58, .237 win percentage). 

Though the all-time series record looks lopsided, the two teams have been competitive as of late; the Lady Panthers are 8-7 in their last 15 meetings with Southern, dating back to the 2008-09 season. Last year, the Jaguars swept the two regular-season meetings from Prairie View A&M for the first time since the 2005-06 season. However, the Lady Panthers would have the last laugh, winning 72-43 in the SWAC Tournament semifinals.

In Baton Rouge, the Jaguars have held the advantage of late, as Prairie View A&M has defeated Southern only once on the road in its last six attempts. The Lady Panthers are seeking their first win over Southern in Baton Rouge since winning 73-53 on March 1, 2012. In last season's game in Baton Rouge on March 6, the Jaguars triumphed 69-59.