The Southern women's basketball team was hoping for a longer stay in the NCAA Tournament, but its five-day trip to Los Angeles was enough time for the Jaguars to make their mark.
While its easy to wonder what might have happened had Southern not played one of the tournament favorites in the first round, the Jaguars did more than just show up. They showed they belonged.
"The NCAA did a great job hosting us and making sure we had a spectacular time," coach Carlos Funchess said. "That part of it was really good, and also just having the opportunity to win the first NCAA game in school history."
That win, a 68-56 victory against UC San Diego, was also a first for any SWAC school in the NCAA Tournament. Even though Southern lost the ensuing first round game 84-46 to UCLA, the Jaguars finished 21-15 overall, their second 20-win season under Funchess.
Southern was a 411/2-point underdog to UCLA, the top seed in the entire NCAA Tournament, but the Bruins didn't take full control until late in the third quarter.
Trailing the Bruins 36-16 early in the second, Southern used its defense to get back in the game. A strong suit for the Jaguars all season, defense paid off again. UCLA went scoreless for five minutes before Southern finished off a 10-2 run to close the first half.
Southern got two stops to open the third quarter and had two chances to pull closer, but 3-point shots by D'Shantae Edwards and Aniya Gourdine were off the mark.
Southern missed its first seven shots of the quarter and trailed by 21 points before Gourdine hit a jumper with 5:33 left in the third.
"(UCLA) is dominant on the inside and they have a lot of size on the perimeter," Funchess said. "At the start of the third quarter we had some really good looks, but we just didn't make the shots. We've gone through lulls like that before, but they had a lot to do with it. When you're trying to shoot over a 6-2 guard, its a little different than shooting over someone 5-9."
Inside, the Bruins relied on 6-7 All-American center Lauren Betts, and forwards Angela Dugalic Zania Socka-Nguemen. The trio combined to grab 24 of UCLA's 44 rebounds and were the main reason Southern was held to 23 rebounds.
Still, while UCLA's size and athleticism took center stage, Southern kept its focus. After playing a preseason schedule that included seven teams that made the NCAA Tournament, Southern was not intimidated.
"We competed the entire game," Funchess said. "I thought UCLA made a lot of tough shots. We had to pick our poison on whether to trap down low and force them to shoot 3s or stay out on the shooters and let them kill us in the paint. We mixed it up a little bit, but they were knocking down a lot of 3-point shots."
UCLA made 9 of 20 3-pointers and shot 55.3% from the field, totals you would expect from a team of UCLA's caliber, but Southern made them work to hit their numbers.
