Prairie View women to face OU in NCAA tourney

PVAMU Coach Cynthia Cooper Dyke says the major difference this year will be confidence because the seven freshmen from two years ago are now seasoned juniors.

Prairie View guard Shondria Combs could hardly contain herself as the Lady Panthers waited for their NCAA Tournament first-round opponent to be revealed Monday night. It seemed like an eternity had passed. But moments into the NCAA Tournament Selection Show’s second segment, Prairie View’s name and its daunting task were revealed. The 16th-seeded Lady Panthers, making their second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years, drew Oklahoma City Regional No.1 seed Oklahoma in Sunday’s opening round in Iowa City, Iowa.

The Lady Panthers and the crowd in Buffalo Wild Wings erupted despite the obstacle ahead. “I was excited about whoever we were going to play,” said Combs, a junior. “Just being here is exciting because everybody doesn’t get to make it here so getting there is exciting.” But that’s about as far as the gracious talk went Monday night. The Panthers, led by fourth-year coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, said just being happy to be going to the Big Show was for the first time when they lost to North Carolina in the first round.

This time the Panthers (23-10) are thinking about advancing even as they face one of the most dominant players in college basketball in powerful OU senior post Courtney Paris, who is a 6-foot-4 menace in the paint.

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