Lady Tigers soar past Prairie View A&M behind solid bench production

by: Michael A. Hines

HOUSTON- The Texas Southern Lady Tigers basketball team stretched their current winning streak to seven as they beat the rival Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers 70-55 at the HPE Arena Saturday night.
 
The Lady Tigers reserves would play a huge role in the win out scoring Prairie View A&M's reserves 35 to 5.  Diamonisha Sophus and Ashley Ferguson would both come off the bench to score in double figures. 
 
Sophus's team high 13 points while shooting 4-of-9 from the field, paired with Ferguson's 10 on 5-of-5 shooting would pace the Texas Southern to the win.
 
The Lady Tigers jumped out to an early 19-7 lead on a layup by Ferguson with 12:20 to play in the first half.  Prairie View A&M's Jeanette Jackson who led all scorers with 27 would keep the Lady Panthers in the game scoring 11 of her team's first 13 points.
 
Texas Southern's defensive pressure would cause problems for Prairie View A&M the entire night.  The Lady Tigers scored 23 points off of turnovers while forcing the Lady Panthers to shoot 19-of-57 from the field for the night.
 
The second half, much like the first, would belong to Texas Southern.  The Lady Tigers would stretch the lead to 14 three minutes into the second half on a layup by guard Brianna Sidney.  The lead would eventually balloon to 18 as Texas Southern pulled away for the win.
 
Texas Southern shot 44 percent from the field with 36 of their points coming inside the paint as they improve their conference record to a league best 9-1.