Women’s Basketball Faces Southern in SWAC Opener

•The Texas Southern women’s basketball team will travel to Baton Rouge, La. to face its first Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) opponent of the season, Southern University on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.

•Finishing 1-10 in the non-conference schedule, the Tigers will look to shake things up with familiar competition.

•Texas Southern fell at home, 52-40 to Tarleton State last Saturday as the Tigers were led by Anela Thomas and Maci Quiller who both registered eight points and four boards. On the defensive end, Jaida Belton tallied three blocks, while she also added nine boards and a steal.

• Southern (2-9) upset Oklahoma 79-70 last Friday as Aleighyah Fontenot scored a season-high 22 points.

•Taniya Lawson sits at No. 10 in the SWAC for scoring, averaging 10.9 points per game.

•Jaida Belton is the second leading blocker in the SWAC having 18 in 11 games played.

•Southern University’s Tionna Lidge ranks No. 5 in the SWAC in blocks, tallying 18 on the season.

•TSU Head Coach Vernette Skeete will look for her first career win in the month of January, and against Southern.

•The Tigers will have a lot to prove as they were selected to finish 11th in the Preseason SWAC Predicted Order of Finish.

• The Tigers brought in nine newcomers this year. However, they’ve lost nine letterwinners and feature a pair of new assistant coaches.