The Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers open the second round of league play Saturday when they make ths short trip to Houston to visit Texas Southern. The Lady Panthers aim to resume their winning ways after falling to Alabama State 73-65 at home Monday.
Prairie View A&M (9-12, 6-3 SWAC) seeks their first season sweep of Texas Southern since the 2011-12 season. The Lady Panthers claimed their first conference win of the season by a score of 63-61 when the two teams met in Prairie View on Jan. 10.
The first-place Lady Tigers of Texas Southern (11-9) enter the contest with a record of 8-1 in SWAC play. TSU is led by Alexus Johnson and Brianna Sidney, who rank sixth and seventh, respectively, in the SWAC's scoring race.
Last time out …
- The Lady Panthers saw their six-game winning streak snapped in a 73-65 loss at home to Alabama State. Alexus Parker scored 19 points and pulled in nine rebounds for the Lady Panthers, but it was not enough to keep them out of the loss column.
- Prairie View A&M shot 17 percent (4 of 23) from 3-point range, its lowest percentage since the Lady Panthers' last loss, when they shot 16.7 percent (3 of 18) at Alcorn State on Jan. 5.
- Shamiya Brooks saw her double-double streak snapped at six games, but she did reach double figures in rebounds for the seventh consecutive contest, hauling down 13 against the Lady Hornets.
- The Lady Panthers trailed at halftime for the first time since Jan. 10, when they came back to defeat Texas Southern 63-61 in the first meeting between the Texas rivals.
- Monique Abbs came off the bench for a career-high 11 points.
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 at then-No. 6 Baylor on Dec. 29.
- All four ranked teams the Lady Panthers faced this season are currently ranked 12th or higher in both the AP. The four teams were ranked 11th or better at the time they faced Prairie View A&M.
- 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 Cardinal were ranked No. 11 and No. 5, respectively, when they faced PVAMU.
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 responsible for Prairie View A&M ranking second as a team in the SWAC in 3-point percentage (27.6 percent, 95 of 344). The Lady Panthers have shot and made more 3-point attempts than any other SWAC team.
- Rosier's 3-point percentage of 32 percent (24 of 75) ranks fifth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The junior guard from Tallahassee, Fla., averages 5.3 points per contest.
- Jackson ranks eighth in the conference, having made 30 percent of her long-range shots. She has made a league best 39 triples on 130 attempts this season.
Jackson leading the SWAC
- Senior guard Jeanette Jackson enters Saturday's contest ranked in the SWAC's top 10 in seven statistical categories. A preseason All-SWAC First Team selection, Jackson currently leads the conference in scoring (17.7 ppg), and is second in assists (3.8 apg) behind Texas Southern's Diamonisha Sophus.
- Jackson has made more 3-pointers than anyone else in the conference, having made 39 out of 130 attempts. Her 1.9 triples per game also tops the conference.
- She is also reliable at the line, making, 78.0 percent of her free throws, good for fourth in the conference. Her 124 made free throws and 159 attempts are also league highs.
- Jackson leads the conference in minutes played (34.6) and is third in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.9).
Parker shifting into gear
- Prairie View A&M sophomore Alexus Parker has been a go-to player over the past five games for the Lady Panthers. The 5-foot-10 guard from has averaged 14.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game during that stretch.
- Parker notched career highs of five assists and 11 rebounds on Jan. 26 at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. It was also Parker's first career double-double.
- She has handed out 17 assists during this recent five-game stretch, Â good for 3.4 per game, and more than half of her season total of 29. She matched her career high with five assists in last Saturday's win over Alabama A&M.
- While she has made only 19.7 percent of her 3-point attempts (14 of 71) this season, she has shot 39 percent (7 of 18) from behind the arc over her last five games. Parker has made 46 percent (29 of 63) of her total field-goal attempts.
- Over her last 10 games, Parker has averaged 12.3 points per contest.
Brooks dominates the inside game
- Shamiya Brooks posted her sixth consecutive double-double in last Saturday's win over Alabama A&M, scoring 16 points and pulling in 10 rebounds. She has averaged 13.2 points and 11.8 rebounds  per contest during Prairie View A&M's six-game winning streak.
- Brooks ranks second in the SWAC in rebounding, grabbing an average of 8.4 caroms a game through 20 contests to go along with a scoring average of 8.7 points per game. Only Alabama State's Jasmine Peeples averages more rebounds among SWAC players, pulling in 9.9 per game.
- She is also second in the conference in blocked shots, swatting away an average of 1.8 per game. Peeples leads the conference in that category with 3.2 blocks per contest.
- Brooks has been especially helpful on the offensive glass, averaging a league-best 4.3 rebounds on the offensive end of the court. Those offensive rebounds have led to some easy baskets for Brooks, who ranks fourth in the SWAC with a .493 field-goal percentage (68 of 138).
- Brooks is averaging a double-double in SWAC play with 10.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per conference game. She has shot 54 percent (38 of 70) in Prairie View A&M's nine conference games.
On the road
- The Lady Panthers have struggled away from home this season, compiling a 4-11 record away from Prairie View A&M. They have shot only 33 percent (67 of 243) in those 15 games, while their opponents have shot 43 percent (385 of 902).
- Jeanette Jackson has averaged 17.5 points per game away from home. She has been most reliable on the free throw line away from The Hill, making 90 out of 115 (78.3 percent) of her free throws.
- When only non-ranked opponents are considered, the Lady Panthers are 4-7 on the road. Their shooting percentage goes up to 36 percent (237 of 666), while opponents shoot 41 percent (261 of 631).
- The Lady Panthers are 2-2 on the road in conference play. They opened up SWAC play with losses at Southern and Alcorn State on Jan. 3 and 5. Their last road trip produced wins at Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Jan. 24 and 26.
- On short road trips (less than 100 miles), the Lady Panthers are 2-2. Jackson again leads the team in such games with a 19.3 points per game scoring average, while Shamiya Brooks averages 6.8 points and a team-high 8.8 rebounds per short road game.
The Eye of the (Lady) Tiger(s)
- Texas Southern is the only team in the SWAC with a winning overall record, as they are 11-9 this season. They lead the SWAC with an 8-1 conference record, and are on a six-game winning streak. Their last loss came in Prairie View on Jan. 10, when they fell to the Lady Panthers 63-61.
- Texas Southern is the highest scoring team in the SWAC, averaging 65.0 points per game. Prairie View A&M ranks second in the SWAC with an average of 63.7 points per game.
- The Lady Tigers also lead the conference in field goal percentage, having made 41.7 percent (495 of 1186) of their shots.
- Texas Southern ranks second in the SWAC in turnover margin, forcing a net average of 1.70 turnovers more per game than the Lady Tigers give away.
- The 3-point shot will likely be seen often Saturday. The Lady Panthers and Lady Tigers are tied for second in the conference in 3-point percentage, making 27.6 percent of their shots. PVAMU and TSU also rank eighth and ninth, respectively, out of 10 conference teams in 3-point defense.
- Alexus Johnson and Brianna Sidney ranks sixth and seventh, respectively, in the SWAC in scoring. Johnson, a 6-foot-2 forward from Denver, Colo., leads the Lady Tigers in scoring (12.7 ppg) and rebounding (7.7 rpg). Brianna Sidney, a 5-foot-9 guard, averages 11.9 points per contest.
Prairie View A&M vs. Texas Southern
- The Lady Tigers of Texas Southern own a 35-33 record over Prairie View A&M since the start of sport's NCAA era in the fall of 1981.Â
- The Lady Panthers' .485 winning percentage against their nearby rivals is by far their best percentage against any of the six other teams that played in the conference's inaugural NCAA women's basketball season of 1981-82.
- Over the past decade, however, the series has been one-sided in Prairie View A&M's favor, with Texas Southern only recently finding success. The Lady Panthers are 18-5 against the Lady Tigers over the previous 10 seasons, with TSU sweeping the regular-season series the last the years.
- Prior to the 2012-13 season, the Lady Panthers had won the previous 15 games against Texas Southern dating back to 2005.
- In both 2013 and 2014, the Lady Panthers would have the last laugh, defeating Texas Southern in the SWAC Tournament, including the 2014 SWAC championship game.
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