Feb. 21, 2008

Saturday's Southwestern Athletic Conference basketball doubleheader between Alabama A&M and Southern are important games both on the women's and men's side of the league race. With just three weeks remaining in the regular season, these games could go a long way in determining placement and seeding in the upcoming SWAC Tournament, to be held March 12-15 in Birmingham, Ala.

On the women's side, the winner of Saturday's game takes over sole possession of third place in the league. The Bulldogs are trying to avoid a sweep to Southern for the season, which would make it extremely difficult for A&M to catch any of the top three teams with a loss. Alabama A&M had won three straight games before a heartbreaking loss to Alabama State. Southern has dropped two of three, but had won five straight games before its last three games, including a 55-41 win over A&M in Baton Rouge.

On the men's side, both the Bulldogs and Jaguars have seven losses, which places each team two games from second in the league and two games from last place in the league. The remainder of the regular season is going to be interesting to establish seeds 2-8 in the conference tournament. Eight schools stand separated by two games or less in the loss column entering today's games. Despite last Saturday's loss to Alabama State, the Bulldogs have won four of their last six games. Southern, meanwhile, has dropped four straight and five of its last six. The Jaguars won the earlier matchup in Baton Rouge, 65-49.

Women's Recap - The good news coming from the Alabama State loss was that leading scorer Katrich Williams returned from her injury to score 15 points in 24 minutes of playing time. The Bulldogs' balanced attack is one of the team's strongest assets as five players average nearly seven points or better: Williams (11.4), Felicia Drummond (10.4), Rebekkah Barnes (9.2), Christian Malone (8.7), and Ashleonte' Samuel (6.9). Malone is second in the SWAC in assists (4.2) and leads the conference in free throw percentage (81.3). Barnes is second in 3-point percentage (35.7).

Men's Recap - Alabama A&M enters an important stretch of six games to end the regular season which will make or break the Bulldogs' chances at a SWAC Tournament berth. The good news is that among the six remaining teams the Bulldogs face, A&M was 4-2 in those games the first time through the league schedule.

Statistically, A&M is led by the trio of Trant Simpson, Mickell Gladness, and Evan Hilton. Simpson leads the team in scoring (13.7) and is first in the conference in free throw percentage (83.1) and fourth in assists (3.5). Gladness is the second leading shot blocker in the country (4.5) and third in the SWAC in rebounding (8.1). He has upped his scoring average to 10.1 per game. Hilton is second on the team in both scoring (12.0) and rebounding (5.1).