HOUSTON, Texas – The Southern Jaguars jumped out to a 10-2 lead and never looked back Friday as they went on to defeat Prairie View A&M 64-40 in the semifinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament.
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In defeating the Lady Panthers, Southern (20-10) snapped Prairie View A&M's run of four consecutive SWAC Tournament championships. The Lady Panthers (14-18) had won their previous 13 tournament games.
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Jadea Brundidge scored 16 points and pulled in 12 rebounds for the Jaguars, while teammate Jasmine Jefferson added 16 points of her own to vault Southern into the SWAC's championship game, where the Jaguars will face Alabama State.
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Junior center
Shamiya Brooks scored 15 points and pulled in six rebounds for Prairie View A&M. Brooks was 6-of-12 from the floor. Senior guard
Shaneece Stephens added nine points and a career-high seven rebounds for the Lady Panthers.
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The Jaguars had a game plan going into Friday's contest to key in on guards
Alexus Parker and
Jeanette Jackson. Parker was held to four points, while Jackson, a senior from Las Vegas, Nev., scored only seven points in addition to handing out three assists and grabbing three steals.
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"That girl is a heck of a warrior," Southern head coach Sandy Pugh said of Jackson after the game. "She had one heck of a career."
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After falling behind early, the Lady Panthers would cut Southern's lead to 12-8 with 13:36 remaining. However, Southern responded with an 8-0 run and never relinquished its double-digit lead from that point on.
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KEY POINTS:- The Jaguars shot 51 percent (27 of 53) from the floor during the game.
- Southern won its first-ever neutral court SWAC Tournament game over Prairie View A&M. The Jaguars' only two previous postseason wins over Prairie View A&M in the NCAA era both took place in Baton Rouge (1993 and 2002).
- Though Prairie View A&M turned the ball over only three more times than Southern (19-16), the Jaguars enjoyed a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
- The Lady Panthers outscored Southern 19-12 in second chance points.
- Southern's .509 shooting percentage in the game was the fourth highest for a Prairie View A&M opponent this season.
- The last team to defeat Prairie View A&M in the SWAC Tournament was Alabama State, who defeated the Lady Panthers in the quarterfinal round of the 2010 tournament.
- I want to commend Southern University for doing a great job tonight. Defensively, they did a great job of disrupting our offense early on and holding Jeanette Jackson to seven points. We were cold from the field. Shooting 50 percent from the free throw line and zero percent from the 3-point line won't allow you to advance to the championship game.Â
- (On the flagrant foul called with 7:28 in the first half with Southern leading 20-10): I think Shamiya Brooks getting that flagrant foul early kind of dictated how physical my team can be. I think that put us into a situations where we weren't as physical and as tough as we should have been.Â
- (On seniors Asha Hampton-Finch and Shaneece Stephens): These two young ladies do a lot and sacrifice a lot for the team. Scoring is something that is always highlighted with Jeanette Jackson, but these two young ladies sacrifice a lot for this team.Â
- Asha Hampton-Finch plays the most minutes right under Jeanette Jackson and she's our defensive general. That's the person you see at the top of our press. You don't see a lot of teams that have a 6-foot-3 post player at the top of their press. But she's pressing for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Shaneece Stephens is one of those players that's going to come in and give you whatever you ask for. She'll look you in the face and say, "Coach, I've got you." Going out in a game like this tonight with these two young ladies surrounded by the rest of the team, when you have players that you know gave it everything that they have, I should be able to sleep tonight knowing that.
- (Asked to sum up the season): It was a very rewarding season for us. We had an opportunity to secure three wins prior to conference. Last year we started conference 0-11. We had two big games, winning at Sam Houston State and at the University of Houston. Those are two big games that we had an opportunity to enjoy and bring back to Prairie View A&M University.
- We had a lot of ups and downs. I'm not the type of coach who expects my players to give excuses and I don't give excuses, but we lost [2013-14] Defensive Player of the Year Larissa Scott to a season-ending shoulder injury. We also lost Kaitlyn Parks, another player who plays very physical like Shamiya Brooks, we lost her to a season-ending injury three weeks before the end of the season. We've had a lot of injuries. Jeanette Jackson broke her nose a couple weeks ago. We're tough and we want to play hard against adversity, we don't to allow injuries or mishaps of your team to dictate your outcome. You always want to have someone else to step it up and someone else to take on that role. We have the players to get those things done, but simple mistakes down the stretch will cost you a game like tonight.Â
- (On her career at Prairie View A&M): It was definitely a rewarding journey from all the different places I got to visit to all the different teammates I had the experience to play with on the court, to the different coaches I've had a chance to play for. Being with Coach Brown and the confidence she had in me to be an offensive threat – as she said, I've always been the defensive general, guard the best post player, guard the best guard – but these past two years it's changed for me to actually be an offensive threat. I think you, Coach Brown, for having the confidence in me to be that type of player.
- (On her career at Prairie View A&M): My first year here I wasn't really a factor. I want to thank Coach Brown for her confidence in me. Her belief in me really gave me the drive to want to play and give my everything for her. She promised me a ring my first year here and I got it. My experience here was wonderful. I wouldn't trade it for anything.Â
