STANFORD, Calif. — The dream run to the NCAA tournament came to an end for the Southern Jaguars on Wednesday night when they fell to Sacred Heart 57-47 in their First Four game at Stanford.
Southern’s season, highlighted by a magical run through last week’s Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament, ended with a 18-15 record.
Sacred Heart (19-13) advanced to face top-seeded Stanford at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the first round.
Genovea Johnson led Southern with 11 points. Raven White added nine.
The first five minutes saw the Jaguars jump out to a 14-4 lead. The rest of the first half was a mess for Southern, which trailed 33-20 at the break. The Jaguars were never able to put a run together in the second half until the final minutes — but by then, the hill was too high to climb.
Southern came in with a five-game winning streak and had won nine of 10 to close the season. That included a 65-64 upset of regular-season champion Jackson State in the SWAC semifinals, thanks to Aleighyah Fontenot’s running buzzer-beater. The Jaguars then beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the final to take the automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
The beginning was grand for Southern on Wednesday. The Jaguars got the early lead and shut down Sacred Heart’s Ny’Ceara Pryor, a sensational 5-foot-3 freshman out of Baltimore, who came into the game leading the Pioneers in scoring, rebounding and assists. Chloe Fleming had the primary responsibility, with a little help and some switching.
Pryor missed her first six shots from the floor and had a pair of turnovers early.
Meanwhile, Southern made five of its first eight shots from the field and was also winning the rebounding battle 10-4.
But fates turned after the first television timeout. Amelia Wood came off the bench for the Pioneers and made a pair of 3-pointers (Pryor assisted on both). Pryor then found Sierra Johnson for a jumper. The eight-point run got the Sacred Heart offense going, and it was 16-12 at the end of the quarter.
The second quarter was a nightmare for the Jaguars.
The Pioneers’ 1-2-2 full-court press became much more effective. Southern missed eight of 10 shots from the floor and got sloppy with the ball with 12 turnovers in the first half and 20 for the game.
Sacred Heart’s size, aside from Pryor, began to take effect. Their interior defense shut down the key. Their run grew to 18-2, and Southern quickly found itself down 24-18.
Xyllize Harrison made a layup, but the run kept going. By the end of the half, it was a 29-6 run with Pryor scoring the final basket on a nice drive, slight retreat and then finger roll to the hoop.
After Sacred Heart scored the first two baskets of the third quarter, the run was 33-6, and Southern was in serious trouble.
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