The women of GSU went on to beat Alabama A&M in the first sudden-death of the SWAC tournament. The Lady Tigers improve their record to 14-14 and advance to the semis.
This win helped reinforce Coach David Ponton’s belief.
"I think our chances are very good," Ponton said before leaving for Birmingham. "This season the parity is so close that if the team put together a three-game series, we’ll win."
Coach Sharon Perkins also shared the same sentiments.
"We should have no problems," she said. "Nobody’s really seen the team we really have.
"We haven’t shown our complete potential."
With confidence in hand, the Lady Tigers went into Birmingham with one thing on their mind: victory.
"We have the makings of a great team," Lacey Cormier said. "The last teams that we’ve played, we’ve been jelling."
The Lady Tigers did indeed jell as they pulled off an upset.
Juleen Smith jelled right into a comfortable mold, scoring a game high 25 points.
While Grambling celebrates, the Lady Bulldogs know exactly what went wrong.
"We did a pretty good job in the first half getting their big people in foul trouble," A&M head coach Altherias Wamley said to Alcorn Sports Information, "but we didn’t take advantage of it in the second half at the free throw line."
The Lady Bulldogs’ leading scorer was senior forward LaShowann Smith. Smith had 19 points on the night.
Others really stepped up for the Lady Tigers once Cormier, Tasha Wilmore, and Amber Brandon fouled out.
Betty Lee had 16 points and three steals. As the Lady Tigers will get a short break before playing Alcorn in the semis, they know that they will have to improve on all aspects of their game.
"Our kids played hard today," Ponton told Alcorn Sports Information. "We don’t match up very well with [A&M]. But we continued to fight to build a lead and maintain it."
If the Lady Tigers defeat Alcorn, they will then play the winner of the Southern-Alabama State game. This game will be broadcasted with a tape delay on the new sports network, ESPNU at 5 p.m.
This game will determine who will represent SWAC in the NCAA tournament.