Soliz shines late as Prairie View advances

GARLAND — With its season hanging in the balance, Prairie View A&M turned to freshman guard Siarra Soliz. The Southwestern Athletic Conference’s freshman of the year didn’t disappoint.

Soliz made a clutch basket and drew a key charge in the closing seconds of Friday’s SWAC semifinal against Grambling State at the Special Events Center, helping the second-seeded Panthers hang on for a 47-41 victory that sent them to the league championship game for the first time since 2009.
Prairie View (20-11) will face top seed Southern, a 78-53 winner over fifth-seeded Mississippi Valley State, at 5 p.m. today.



Lady Panthers in Championship Finale

GARLAND, Texas - Prairie View A&M advanced to the championship round of the SWAC Tournament for the fourth time in five seasons as the Lady Panthers knocked off Grambling State 47-41 in the semifinal round on Friday at the Special Events Center in Garland, Texas.

After senior guard Dominique Smith hit the game's opening basket, the Lady Panthers found themselves down quickly as GSU opened with a 7-0 surge for a 7-2 margin nearly five minutes in. The Lady Panthers regained the lead three minutes later as senior Whitney Williams, sophomore Sharde Henry and freshman Siarra Soliz hit baskets en route to a 9-7 advantage.

With the lead back in their possession, the Lady Panthers turned up the intensity on both ends of the court as they held Grambling State to only seven points over a span of 11 minutes. Offensively, Prairie View A&M continued to roll as Dominique Smith and Robin Jones hit a pair of baskets which extended their lead to double digits at 24-14 with 4:14 remaining.

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Alabama State's Hayles, Morgan State's Smith honorable mention AP All-Americans

Photo: AP honorable mention All-American Andrew Hayles, ASU Hornets.

by Alabama State Sports Information

Montgomery, Ala. - The honors continue to roll in for Alabama State guard Andrew Hayles. On Monday, Hayles was named Associated Press honorable mention All-American.

"It's a real honor, but it says more about what our team accomplished that what I did individually," Hayles said. "This is really motivation to work even harder to in the offseason."

Earlier this month, Hayles, a junior from Mobile, Ala., was tabbed as the SWAC player of the year after leading the Hornets to a 20-11 season and the SWAC regular season championship.

He averaged 14.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He ranked in the conference's top 10 in six categories: scoring, shooting percentage, free throw percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, 3-pointers made, and minutes played.

After his first season at ASU, Hayles was named the SWAC freshman of the year in 2005-2006. As a sophomore, he led the Hornets in scoring with 14.5 points per game.

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Jamar Smith, Morgan State University, the MEAC Player of the Year was also named an AP honorable mention All-American. Smith, a 6-2/210 senior guard played at Patrick Henry HS/San Bernadino Valley College prior to attending MSU. Smith is from Brooklyn Park, MN.