Alabama State outmuscles Alabama A&M

Alabama State University Lady Hornets Coach Freda Freeman-Jackson

BOSSIER CITY, La. - The Alabama A&M women's basketball team's dream of reaching its first SWAC tournament championship game died Friday at the hands of a familiar foe. Alabama State closed Friday's semifinal game on an 11-4 run over the final 3:50 to end the Bulldogs' season with a 61-53 loss. A&M (16-13) entered the semifinal game as a higher seed for the first time and had swept the Hornets during the regular season.

Alabama State controlled the physical nature of the game, especially over the last 15 minutes. Conference player of the year Katrich Williams' only 3-point basket of the game at the 16:38 mark gave A&M a five-point lead at 32-27. Williams finished with a game-high 24 points, but struggled to free herself from Alabama State's defensive pressure. "There were a lot of bumps and pushes out there," A&M coach Altherias Warmley said. "We needed to be more responsive to their physical play, and we failed to do that today."

The Bulldogs' response to the physical play came to a head with 1:41 to play in the first half when Chelsea Marshall and Alabama's Erica Henderson entangled on an off-ball screen. Henderson was tagged with a personal foul, but officials determined that Marshall threw a punch in the altercation and was ejected. "Clearly my player made an inappropriate reaction to that situation," Warmley said.

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Southern women fall, 65-62 to Alabama A&M

Pugh says ‘game stolen from us’

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Southern University’s women’s basketball coach Sandy Pugh didn’t consider Saturday’s 65-62 loss to Alabama A&M a heartbreaker. Not under these circumstances. “I’m not sure we lost the game,” Pugh said. “I feel the game was stolen from us.” The Jaguars were whistled for 27 fouls to 15 for the Bulldogs. And A&M shot 31 free throws to Southern’s 16. And Southern had two players foul out while no one for A&M had as many as four fouls.

The loss played out in heartbreaking fashion. The Jaguars never trailed until Katrich Williams hit three free throws with 11 seconds left for a 63-62 edge. Then Williams iced the win with two more free throws with two seconds left. A&M outscored Southern 23-10 at the foul line. Asked about the disparity in fouls, Pugh said, “Like I said, I don’t feel like we lost the game. I feel like it was stolen from us.” A&M coach Altherias Warmly had her own theory on the foul disparity.

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Alabama A&M 0, Florida State 3

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State head volleyball coach Chris Poole couldn’t have asked for a better time to earn his 600th career win. The No. 12 Seminoles’ second-year coach reached the milestone Saturday afternoon as his third-seeded team swept Alabama A&M (25-10, 25-19, 25-10) in the first round of the NCAA Championship at Tully Gym to move on to Sunday’s second round game. The straight-sets win is FSU’s (29-2) 16th sweep of the season and is the second NCAA Tournament victory in program history. At 2-10 all-time in the Big Dance, it is also the Seminoles’ first ever NCAA Tournament win in Tallahassee.

”I certainly was pleased the way we played most of the match,” said Poole, who became the 16th active Division I coach to reach 600 victories. “We’ve really have worked hard the last few weeks to try to limit our errors as much as possible and to go three sets and only have seven hitting errors is very good. We also limited the amount of serving errors we had and that’s something else that we’ve really been trying to focus on is to really play in more control on our side of the net.” Senior Jordana Price paced the balanced FSU attack against the Bulldogs (22-13) with seven kills. She also had a team-best six total blocks.

After running away with 25-10 win in the first set – a score that was the ’Noles second largest margin of victory all year – FSU was pushed by an Alabama A&M team that won the Southwestern Athletic Conference in the second. The Seminoles will now play a Jacksonville State team that defeated Florida A&M in an exciting five-set match earlier in the day. FSU and JSU will match up for the first time in the history of both volleyball programs on Sunday at 5 p.m. in Tully Gym.

Final Stats

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A&M aims to prove '07 was no fluke

Alabama A&M women's soccer coach Frank Davies always tries to find a way to top the previous year. After winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship last season and becoming the first team in league history to score in an NCAA tournament game, Davies says he has found a way. "We've got to repeat," Davies said. "In order to prove that last year wasn't a fluke, we've got to win it again."

In the five-year history of the SWAC championships, there has been no repeat winner. Davies says the Bulldogs can do it if he can find a way to retool their midfield. "How we revamp that unit will be a big key," Davies said. Belinda Kanda, one of the nation's top scorers, returns along with six other starters. Brittan Thomas and newcomer Celeste Roberts will also be counted on to help shoulder some of the scoring load.

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A familiar tune for A&M Lady Bulldogs

Bulldogs fall in SWAC first round for sixth time

BIRMINGHAM - Alabama A&M women's basketball coach Altherias Warmley had hoped this year would be different. Unfortunately for A&M, it was a lot like the previous ones.

A&M, which struggled early, battled back and appeared to be in control midway through the second half. But A&M faded down the stretch as Mississippi Valley State came away with a 67-61 victory in the opening round of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Thursday afternoon at Fair Park Arena.

"We made too many mistakes and got outhustled," said Warmley, whose team committed 20turnovers and was outrebounded 37-26. "Valley played hard and we didn't match their intensity. We made some mistakes at crucial periods in the game and time ran out on us.

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