2017-18 Women's Basketball Week 16 Release
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Follow The SOUTHWESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE 2017-18 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL WEEK 16 RELEASE www.swac.org Contact: Ed Bailey • 205-241-3464 • [email protected] 2017-18 STANDINGS Conf. Pct. PF PA OVR Pct. PF PA H A N L10 Stk Southern 12-3 .800 66.9 58.2 13-11 .542 65.5 64.7 8-0 5-10 0-1 8-2 W 1 Texas So. 10-4 .714 64.9 57.3 15-10 .600 63.9 58.9 7-3 6-7 2-0 8-2 L 1 Grambling 10-4 .714 71.8 67.8 13-12 .520 66.1 68.4 8-2 5-9 0-1 7-3 W 1 Prairie View 9-5 .643 70.6 66.2 11-14 .440 70.1 71.1 7-3 4-10 0-1 7-3 W 3 Jackson State 7-7 .500 71.9 68.6 12-11 .522 73.2 67.6 8-4 4-7 0-0 4-6 L 4 Alcorn State 7-8 .467 65.1 68.6 11-15 .423 64.8 69.5 6-3 5-10 0-2 5-5 W 1 Alabama State 6-8 .429 60.1 64.0 8-17 .320 55.0 68.4 6-5 2-11 0-1 4-6 L 1 Alabama A&M 5-9 .357 54.8 59.2 10-15 .400 55.6 61.6 5-5 5-9 0-1 3-7 L 1 Ark.-Pine Bluff 4-11 .267 57.3 63.8 6-19 .240 55.1 68.7 5-5 1-12 0-2 3-7 W 1 Miss. Valley 2-13 .133 58.4 67.3 2-25 .074 57.0 73.6 1-9 1-11 0-5 2-8 L 3 LAST WEEK'S SCORES UPCOMING SCHEDULE NEWS AND NOTES •Southern has clinched a top-4 seed and is guaranteed to Monday, February 19 Saturday, February 24 host a first-round game during the 2018 SWAC Basketball Prairie View 75, Miss. Valley State 74 Grambling State vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Tournament. Texas Southern can be next to clinch a first- Grambling, La., 3:00 p.m. round home game with a win OR a loss by Jackson State. Southern 58, Alabama A&M 46 Grambling State would clinch a top-4 seed with a win over Prairie View vs. Alabama State AND a Jackson State loss. Prairie View clinches a top-4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 61,.Texas Prairie View, Texas, 3:00 p.m. seed with a win AND losses by Jackson State, Alcorn State Southern 59 and Alabama State. Alcorn State vs. Southern •Reigning SWAC Player of the Week Shala Dobbins scored Alcorn State 65, Alabama State 57 Lorman, Miss., 3:00 p.m. a career-high 40 points during Prairie View's win over UAPB last Saturday. Dobbins is the first SWAC women's Saturday, February 17 Jackson State vs. Miss. Valley State player in six-plus years to score 40 or more points in a Texas Southern 72, Miss. Valley State Jackson, Miss., 3:00 p.m. game (Tanika Jackson of Alabama State scored 42 points 53 vs. Oakwood in Dec. 2010). Dobbins is also in striking Texas Southern vs. Alabama A&M distance of the NCAA single-season mark for free throws Alabama A&M 74, Alcorn State 63 Houston, Texas, 5:30 p.m. made. Additionally, she holds the 2017-18 single-game high among NCAA D-I women's players for free throws made (22 vs. UAPB). Prairie View 89, Arkansas-Pine Bluff Monday, February 26 72 Grambling State vs. Miss. Valley State • Mississippi Valley has been mathematically eliminated Grambling, La., 5:30 p.m. from tournament contention, leaving the field almost Alabama State 58, Southern 56 decided, but Arkansas-Pine Bluff remains in a battle against Prairie View vs. Alabama A&M Alabama A&M for the final spot Grambling State 93, Jackson State Prairie View, Texas, 5:30 p.m 89 (OT) •Grambling State's Jazmin Boyd notched a career-high 31 Jackson State vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff points during the Lady Tigers' 93-89 OT win over Jackson State. Boyd will try to build on her big game against UAPB Jackson, Miss., 5:30 p.m. and Mississippi Valley, the latter of whom she has struggled against lately. Boyd is averaging just 8.5 points per night in Texas Southern vs. Alabama State her last four games vs. the Devilettes. Houston, Texas, 5:30 p.m. • Alabama A&M has won 10 games in a single-season for the first time since 2011-2012. That year, Alabama A&M finished second in regular season standings. • Grambling's Shakyla Hill was named the United States Sports Academy's Female Athlete of the Month for January. 2017-18 Southwestern Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball • Week 16 Release 2017-18 PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS AND HONORS Shawntayla Harris rounds out the team at center. In the event that a player was named to the first team during the postseason and does not return, the second-team player for that position was elevated to the first team. Players were ranked in their position based on the number of votes received. PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR Shakyla Hill, Grambling State PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Alexus Freeman, Alcorn State PRESEASON ALL-SWAC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL - FIRST TEAM Guard - Shakyla Hill, Grambling State, Joyce Kennerson, Texas Southern Forward - Brianna Green, Southern, Artavia Ford, Texas Southern BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – On the heels of its first Southwestern Athletic Center - Tatyana Calhoun, Alabama State Conference women’s basketball tournament championship in program history, Texas Southern has been selected as the preseason favorite to win PRESEASON ALL-SWAC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL - SECOND TEAM the conference crown in the 2017-18 season in a poll of the league’s head Guard - Jazmin Boyd, Grambling State, *Monisha Neal, Grambling State, coaches and sports information directors. The announcement was made *Alexus Freeman, Alcorn State during the SWAC’s annual tip-off media teleconference Wednesday morning. Forward - Breasia McElrath, Texas Southern, *La’Sha Haynes, Prairie View A&M, *Jazmine Torian, Grambling State The Lady Tigers, who earned a share of the regular-season crown -- for Center - Shawntayla Harris, Arkansas-Pine Bluff the second-straight season -- alongside Grambling State thanks to identical 14-4 records in league play, posted a 23-10 overall record on their way to the tournament championship. Texas Southern narrowly outpointed tournament finalist and co-regular season champion Grambling State 149-146 in the predicted order of finish. Alabama State (120 points) was tabbed to finish third, with Southern (108 MEDIA CONTACTS points) and Alcorn State (89 points) rounding out the top five. Slotted to Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) finish sixth through 10th in the preseason prognostications were Prairie View Ed Bailey A&M (73 points), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (66 points), Jackson State (63 points), Email: [email protected] Phone: 205-241-3464 Alabama A&M (34 points) Mississippi Valley State (32 points). Website: SWAC.org Grambling State guard Shakyla Hill was chosen as the preseason Player of the Alabama A&M (AAMU) Mississippi Valley (MVSU) Year after a sophomore season filled with stat-sheet stuffing performances. Janay Roberson LaMonica Scott In guiding Grambling to the No. 1 seed in the SWAC Women’s Basketball Email: janay.roberson@aamu. Email: lamonica.scott@mvsu. Tournament last season, Hill was the only player in the league to rank in the edu eduPhone: 662-254-8378 top five in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and field goal percentage last Phone: 256-372-4005 Website: mvsusports.com year. Hill averaged 15 points a game to go with 7.8 boards per night, good Website: aamusports.com for fifth and third in the conference ranks, respectively. The Little Rock, Ark. Prairie View A&M (PVAM) native led the league in assists (4.2), steals (3.0) and field goal percentage Alabama State (ALST) LaTonia Thirston (48.2) last season. Joidon Jennings Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Phone: 936-261-9106 Alcorn State picked up the preseason Defensive Player of the Year selection Phone: 334-229-5211 Website: pvpanthers.com for the second-straight season, as guard Alexus Freeman earned the nod. Website: bamastatesports.com The SWAC Newcomer of the Year last season, Freeman -- who averaged Southern (SUBR) a shade under 11 points a game to go with 5.6 boards and 3.3 assists -- Alcorn State (ALCN) Christopher Jones finished second in the league steals per game (2.4) in anchoring one of the Pierce Yarberry Email: [email protected] better team ball-hawking efforts in the conference last season, as Alcorn Email: [email protected] Phone: 225-771-3791 State finished third in team steals per game at 9.9 and in terms of league Phone: 601-877-6501 Website: gojagsports.com play, was second in the league in steals (10.2) and opponent field goal Website: alcornsports.com percentage from the three-point line (23.0). Texas Southern (TXSO) Grambling State (GRAM) Alan Wiederhold Texas Southern guard and 2017 SWAC Women’s Basketball Tournament Brian Howard Email: [email protected] MVP Joyce Kennerson, who led the league in scoring at 18.3 points per Email: [email protected] Phone: 713-313-6829 game, joins Hill on the preseason first team along with Southern’s Brianna Phone: 318-274-6562 Website: tsusports.com Green and Texas Southern’s Artavia Ford at the forward spots, and Alabama Website: gsutigers.com State’s Tatyana Calhoun at center. Arkansas Pine-Bluff (UAPB) Jackson State (JKST) Cameo Stokes The second team consists of Grambling State guards Jazmin Boyd and Wesley Peterson Email: [email protected] Monisha Neal along with Freeman.