The Lady Panthers were looking to close out the season strong and head into the SWAC tournament as the number one seed aiming to capture their second consecutive SWAC title. But before the Lady Panthers could worry about the tourney, the Panthers felt the wrath of Southern and Alcorn St., defeating the Panthers in the last two games of the season.
The conference tournament was held in Birmingham, Ala. March 12-15 at the Fair Park arena. Their first round foe was the Alabama State Lady Hornets. The Lady Hornets were down only nine points at the half, despite a poor shooting from the field. The Panthers were able to stay in the game because they shot 13-15 from the free throw line. The Lady Panther’s defense continued to pressure the lady hornets into turnovers which helped the Lady Panthers score easy transition baskets. The Panthers ended up being too much winning 74-57. Shavonne Smith led all scorers with 30. Twila Stokes scored 9 points and led the team in rebounding with 14, helping provide a lot of the good defense was Thomas who had three steals and 12 points.
The Lady Panther’s second round game was against the Arkansas Pine Bluff Lady Golden Lions. The Lady Panthers came out playing with good energy. They showed solid defense and were aggressive on the boards. Dominique Smith provided a great lift off the bench, scoring 17 points in the game.
However, things were not perfect for the Lady Panthers. They were leading 23-8 at the 9:24 mark in the first half. Ciaria Shield’s good play combined with Shavonne Smith’s three fouls in the first half lead to the Lady Panthers having only a two point lead at half.
The Lady Lions clearly had the momentum, but that didn’t stop the Lady Panthers from coming out in the second half to play inspired basketball. Thomas had a great all around game scoring 20 points and four steals. Her good defense along with the rest of the team helped slow down the Lady Lion’s offense and led to plenty of easy baskets. The Lady Panthers attacked the offensive boards and dived for loose balls. Five of Stokes nine rebounds were offensive and she scored nine points. Chari Smith had four rebounds with three being offensive and chipped in eight points. The Lady Panthers went on to defeat the Lady Lions 83-70.
All that stood in the way of the Lady Panthers getting their second consecutive SWAC title were the Jackson St. Lady Tigers. Jackson State took the Lady Panthers into overtime in both of their regular season meetings which they split 1-1. The Panthers were also without all-SWAC performer Gaati Werema.
The Panthers came out a little flat and the Lady Tigers took advantage of the Lady Panthers 20 turnovers in the game. Behind the efforts of Erica Trahan and Erlexis Cooper the Lady Tigers had a nice inside-outside combo. Not to be shown up, the Lady Panthers had big games from Shavonne Smith who led all scorers with 18 points. Stokes played tough inside the entire game with nine points and twelve rebounds and Chari Smith also had plenty of huge baskets in the paint with13 points and eight rebounds. The Lady Panthers were down by 11 but cut the lead down to seven at half time.
This set up a thrilling second half. The Lady Panthers did what they did all tournament long which was play good defense, rebound, and hustle better than their opponent. They beat the Lady Tigers in second chance points 21-12 and the Lady Panthers outrebounded the Lady Tigers 36-33. Pivotal factor in the game were free throws and foul calls. There was a rapid back and fourth pace in the second half that saw the lead change six times. Around the four minute mark Panther fans could feel the big moments coming down the stretch.
The Lady Panthers were down six when Kandis Brown hit a huge three pointer with eight seconds left. The Panthers applied lots of pressure on the Lady Tigers and Stokes went for a would be steal that was called a foul.
Avery Whalon, a junior communications major said of the foul call, “The referee really could have eaten his whistle on that call and maybe we could have gone into overtime.”
Jackson State hit two free throws to seal the game and the Panthers lost by a close 63-61.
Adrien Canida, a junior accounting major said, “I think the girls played good the entire tournament and I hate they lost such a close game.”
Despite the loss, the Lady Panthers received an invitation to the National Invitational Tournament. In the first round Prairie View will play Texas State, in San Marcos, Tex. on March 20.