There was nothing wrong with the defense the Southern women's basketball team played Saturday in its Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season finale against Alabama A&M at F.G. Clark Activity Center.
The offense? That was a totally different story.Â
Despite already clinching the outright SWAC title, Southern ended the regular season on a low note after a 48-35 loss to Alabama A&M.
Southern didn't miss every shot it took, but there were times when it felt like nothing would go in the basket.
The Jaguars endured a scoreless stretch of nearly eight minutes in the second quarter, when it scored only two points. That contributed to some unimpressive final numbers as Southern hit season lows for points scored and field-goal percentage (21.2%).
Defensively, the Jaguars held an opponent under 50 points for the eighth time this season.
Southern (17-14, 15-3 SWAC) will look to regroup next week as the top seed for the conference tournament in Atlanta. After the game, SWAC representatives were on hand to deliver a trophy for Southern's regular-season championship.
"Offensively, we were just out of sync," Southern coach Carlos Funchess said. "It was senior day, there were parents and family coming in, so there were some distractions, but we just played sluggish. We never got in rhythm."
Alabama A&M (21-9, 14-4) will go into the tournament as the No. 3 seed.
Southern made 14 of 66 shots from the field and 5 of 14 free throws. Tionna Lidge was the leading scorer with nine points.
In the third quarter, Southern sliced its deficit to two points twice after A&M led 20-16 at halftime. The Bulldogs began to separate from the Jaguars late when Lauryn Pendleton made two jumpers and Kaila Walker scored on a layup. Pendleton scored 16 points while Walker had 14.
Their scoring burst gave Alabama A&M a 33-26 lead after three quarters.
Southern fell behind 38-28 in the fourth, then made steals on five straight A&M possessions. The Jaguars made only two shots during that stretch before A&M surged back out to a 45-35 lead.
In the first half, the Southern defense was its usual sticky self. The Jaguars held Alabama A&M to 21.7% shooting and limited the Bulldogs to 20 points in the first half.
After leading 14-12 entering the second quarter, Southern took a 16-12 lead on Lidge's jumper with 7:40 left until halftime. Southern didn't score again in the quarter.
The Jaguars missed their last 10 shots from the field as well as two free throws to fall behind 20-16 at the half.
A&M made just 1 of 11 shots in the quarter, but it was 5 for 8 at the free-throw line. Southern missed five layups in the first half and made just 3 of 10 free throws.
