The Prairie View A&M basketball teams will open SWAC Tournament play at home Tuesday in a 6 p.m. doubleheader in the William "Billy" J. Nicks Sr. Babydome.
The Lady Panthers are the #4 seed and will host #5 Jackson State at 6 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., the #2 seed PVAMU men will host #7 seed Alcorn State, with both games video streamed at pvpanthers.com/sportsnetwork. Live stats will also be available at pvpanthers.com.
The Lady Panthers-Jackson State winner will face the winner of #1 Southern and #8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff Friday at Noon at Delmar Fieldhouse. The Panthers-Alcorn State winner will face the victor of #3 Texas Southern and #6 Alabama State Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Delmar Fieldhouse. Tickets for the SWAC's Final Four are available online at swac.org.
The Prairie View A&M women had a six-game winning streak end Saturday in a loss at Southern, denying the Lady Panthers a share of the regular season crown. Despite the loss, PVAMU had a five-game improvement in league play (7-9 last year, 12-6 this year) under second-year head coach
Ravon Justice.
First-year players
Shala Dobbins (2
nd team All-SWAC/Newcomer of the Year) and
Jhyrah Cobb (Freshman of the Year) earned postseason accolades from the SWAC).
The Lady Panthers and Tigers (10-8 SWAC) split two meetings this season, with each team winning on their home court. Jackson State won at home 70-61 on January 15, before Prairie View A&M won at home 85-73. Christina Ellis (11
th/13.0 ppg), Marneisha Hamer (t-13
th/11.1 ppg), and Derica Wiggins (t-13
th/11.1 ppg) rank in the Top 15 in the SWAC in scoring.
On the men's side, the Panthers won their fourth straight game in a 77-69 win at Southern to claim the number two seed in the tournament. Under
Byron Smith, who is in his second full season as head coach, the Panthers improved by two wins in SWAC play over last season (10-8 last season, 12-6 this year).
A trio of Panthers earned All-SWAC honors. F
Zachary Hamilton earned first-team accolades, while
Gary Blackston and J.D. Wallace earned second-team accolades.
The Panthers won the first two meetings over the Braves this season (76-64 Jan. 1; 77-69 March 1), and will face Alcorn for the second time in six days after winning at ASU on Thursday night. All five Panther starters were in double figures in the win last week.
A.J. Mosby leads the Braves and is seventh in the SWAC in scoring (15.2 ppg).
