BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- The Southwestern Athletic Conference has announced its Spring 2021 Preseason All-SWAC Volleyball team highlighted by Preseason Player of the Year Jylen Whitten (JSU), Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Alana Washington (JSU) and Preseason Blocker of the Year Haley Gomez (UAPB). The preseason team and individual awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.

At the conclusion of last season Jackson State’s Jylen Whitten was named SWAC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year after establishing herself as one of the league’s premier volleyball student-athletes. During regular season play the 5’9 freshman outside hitter from Redondo Beach, Calif. led the conference in kills per set with a 3.25 average, while adding 344 kills on the season. Additionally, Whitten led the SWAC in points, averaging 3.66 per set and 388 total. She also finished eighth in the conference in service aces with a 0.27 average per set (30 service aces), while tallying 253 digs during the season.

Jackson State’s Alana Washington was named SWAC Libero of the Year following a breakout 2019 campaign where she recorded a league-leading 500 digs. The 5’5 freshman from Chino, Calif. averaged the most digs per set (4.31) and posted 29 matches with 10 or more digs. Washington was ranked second on her team in service aces with 26, while finishing fourth on the team in assists with 132.

2019 was a stellar year for Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Haley Gomez as she led her team in total blocks (90), while also contributing 45 digs to go along with 229 kills. The Eastvale, Calif. native was a key contributor for a Lady Lions team that concluded the season with an impressive 5-2 record at home.

Jackson State (4) and Prairie View A&M (4) led all member institutions with four total preseason selections followed by Alcorn State (2), Grambling State (2), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (2), Southern (2), Texas Southern (1) and Mississippi Valley State (1).

A complete listing of the Spring 2021 Preseason All-SWAC Team and individual award winners can be found below.

Preseason Player of the Year- Jylen Whitten, Jackson State

Preseason Defensive Player of the Year- Alana Washington, Jackson State

Preseason Blocker of the Year- Haley Gomez, UAPB

Preseason All-SWAC Volleyball First Team

Preseason All-SWAC Volleyball Second Team

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southwestern Athletic Conference has named Alabama A&M’s Dariauna Lewis and Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Tyler Pyburn its SWAC Women’s Basketball Co-Players of the Week for outstanding performances during the opening week of competition.

Lewis (Omaha, Neb.) delivered an outstanding season opening performance as AAMU upset No. 11 (Mid-Major) Troy 80-69. In 26 minutes of play she scored 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting which was highlighted by a double-double with 10 rebounds. She also went a perfect 5-of-5 from the foul line and added a blocked shot.

Pyburn (Blooming Grove, Texas) was a key contributor for Arkansas-Pine Bluff during the Lady Lions dominating victory over Arkansas State, 85-68. She scored a career-high 23 points in UAPB’s win over the Sun Belt Conference foe, ending a 13-game losing streak against the Red Wolves. Pyburn had career highs in field goals made (nine) and three-pointers (five) while shooting 56.3 percent from the field (9-16) and 50 percent from the three-point line (5-10).

Other Notable Performances:

• Southern’s Genovea Johnson led all scorers while recording a career high 21 points and five rebounds against Kansas State of the Big 12 Conference.
• Alcorn State’s Kirdis Clark produced double-digit scoring efforts in opening games at Southeastern Louisiana and Wichita State. She led the Lady Braves in three statistical categories against the Shockers tallying 11 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. She added 12 points, three assists, and three steals in her senior campaign debut at SLU while averaging 11.5 points and 5.0 rebounds through two games.

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HOUSTON – For the fourth time in five years, Texas Southern rules the roost in the Southwestern Athletic Conference as the Tigers pulled away down the stretch for an 84-69 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, claiming the 2018 Toyota SWAC Men’s Basketball Tournament championship in the process.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Trae Jefferson led the way for the Tigers, who had four players in double figures. Jefferson scored 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists.  Donte Clark added 14 points, Derrick Bruce scored 13 points. Trayvon Reed scored a team-best 17 points to go with 10 boards and four rejections.

Texas Southern (15-19), which used a blistering second-half of offense to pull away from Prairie View A&M during the semifinals, delivered more of the same to open the game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. After Trent Steen connected on a jumper to pull the Golden Lions to within one, Donte Clark scored eight points as he powered a 13-1 run to put the Tigers ahead by double-digits near the midpoint of the first half.

Martaveous McKnight brought Arkansas-Pine Bluff (14-20) within striking distance as the Golden Lions cut it to within five. However, the Tigers continued their hot shooting, connecting on 60 percent of its tries – including a 7-for-15 clip from deep – to take a 45-36 lead into the locker rooms.

Christian Robertson found some success against Texas Southern to open the second half, scoring six early points. However, the Golden Lions couldn’t do enough to close the gap on TSU during the early goings of the second half. After Trayvon Reed converted a three-point play to put the Tigers up 11, the Golden Lions came alive.

Terrance Baynard responded in kind on the other end, and McKnight connected on a teardrop on the following possession. Harper then cashed-in on an acrobatic finish at the rim and Robertson sank one of two at the line to close the deficit to 55-52 with 12:40 left.

Banyard knocked down a jumper at the line to pull UAPB within one possession, and after a Reed dunk, McKnight finished underneath the rim to make it 59-57 with 10:20 left. From there, the Tigers pulled away on a 14-4 run that coincided with a Texas Southern’s Robert Lewis then nailed a corner trey to push TSU back ahead by five, and Jefferson swished home a floater in the lane, making it 64-57.

Texas Southern then pulled away with a 14-4 run over a seven-minute stretch during which UAPB made just one of their 11 field-goal tries. For the game, TSU shot 59.1 percent from the floor (26-of-44) including a 10-of-21 line from deep.

Harper led all players with 21 points and seven rebounds. McKnight netted 17, and Robertson 11.

The All-Tournament Team is listed below:

All-Tournament Team: Trae Jefferson, Texas Southern (SWAC Men’s Tournament Most Valuable Player) Donte Clark, Texas Southern Travon Harper, Arkansas-Pine Bluff Martaveous McKnight, Arkansas-Pine Bluff Gary Blackston, Prairie View A&M

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HOUSTON – Behind Player of the Year Martaveous McKnight, Arkansas-Pine Bluff eased past Southern 71-65, punching its ticket to the 2018 Toyota Southwestern Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament final.

A nip-and-tuck contest initially, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (14-19) managed to distance itself thanks to McKnight, who scored nine points in the first 13 minutes and knocked down a three-pointer to push the Golden Lions ahead 19-11 with 7:18 left in the half.

Southern responded with a 11-2 run to take a 22-21 lead with four minutes left in the half, and Eddie Reese later keyed an 8-0 run – coupled with an UAPB scoring drought that lasted more than three minutes – to take a 30-23 advantage in the waning seconds of the half. However, Charles Jackson drew a foul on a three-point try with 0.7 seconds left, later converting all three from the stripe to cut Southern’s lead to 30-27 at the break.

Jared Sam asserted himself following intermission, as he accounted for five early points as the Jaguars pushed their lead to seven. After that, however, the Jaguars struggled to find the bottom of the net, slogging through a 3:03 drought without a field goal. Meanwhile, the Golden Lions responded through their big man Trent Steen, as he nailed consecutive jumpers to bring UAPB within one.

Travon Harper later split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 38 with 14:47 left. Seconds later, a McKnight bucket pushed the Golden Lions ahead 40-39, but Chris Thomas dropped in a floater to put Southern back in front.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff remained in striking distance throughout the second half, and Harper later scored on a put-back of a McKnight miss to tie it at 55 with 5:42 left, and McKnight later swiped an errant pass, going coast-to-coast for a lay-up that gave UAPB a 57-55 lead with just under five minutes left.

From there, McKnight assumed the role of closer, scoring UAPB’s last nine points as the Golden Lions pulled away from the Jaguars late.

McKnight scored a game-high 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting, grabbing eight rebounds. Harper added 23 points. Reese led the Jaguars (15-18) with 17 points, four assists and four rebounds. Sam added 13 points, and Emanuel Sheperd scored 11 points.

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BATON ROUGE, La. – Behind 28 points and 10 rebounds from Briana Green, top-seeded Southern fended off a feisty Arkansas-Pine Bluff squad, advancing to the semifinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament with a 70-60 win Tuesday night at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

Green, the 2017-18 SWAC Defensive Player of the Year, also accounted for five steals and a block. Samantha Duncan added 10 points and five rebounds.

Southern (16-12) flew out of the gate with an 11-2 run, limiting Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8-21) early on and taking a 16-7 lead into the second quarter. However, the Jaguars were unable to create much distance from the Lady Lions as the game progressed. The Lady Lions managed to cut the defict down to as little as three, but Southern used a 7-2 run to push ahead by nine going into the break.

The Lady Lions, plagued by foul trouble all night, turned matters around in the third, outpointing the Jaguars 15-7 over the first five minutes of the quarter — a run capped by a Destiny Brewton lay-up — to take a 34-33 lead with 4:12 left in the stanza. The sides traded buckets until Green powered a 6-0 close to the quarter for Southern.

From there, Southern pulled away, pushing its lead to as many as 14.

The Jaguars shot just 30.6 percent from the floor (19-of-62), but forced 24 UAPB turnovers and outrebounding the Lady Lions 43-37, including an 18-9 advantage on the offensive glass.

Brewton led UAPB with 22 points. Faith Ohanta added 10 points and four rebounds.

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WOMEN

Southern 59, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 46
BATON ROUGE, La. – A quick start propelled Southern (11-10, 10-2 SWAC) to a 59-46 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (5-17, 3-9) Saturday afternoon at the F.G. Clark Activity Center during Southwestern Athletic Conference action.

Alyric Scott led the Jaguars with 16 points and five rebounds. Skylar O’Bear, Samantha Duncan and Jaden Towner each scored eight points for Southern.

Faith Ohanta dealt a double-double for UAPB with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Ohanta was 13-of-22 from the foul line, outshooting the Jaguars from the stripe on her own. Malaik Muhammad scored seven points, and Destiny Brewton and Noe’ll Taylor added six points apiece.

After shaking off a slow start to put together a 12-2 run to end the first quarter with a 17-6 lead, the Jaguars pushed ahead thanks to the long ball and extended their lead to 25-8 after taking advantage of a UAPB cold snap where the Lady Lions did not make a field goal for five-plus minutes. Southern led by as many as 21 before UAPB closed the half on a 7-0 run, leaving Southern’s lead at 33-19.

Southern remained in control from there, leading by as many as 23 in the fourth. Arkansas-Pine Bluff made a run late, closing the game on a 17-7 run and capitalizing on careless play from the Jaguars, but Southern’s lead proved insurmountable.

With the win, Southern remains atop league standings and is the first team to reach the 10-win mark in conference play this season.

MEN

Southern 70, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 62
BATON ROUGE, La. – The host Jaguars received a big boost from Eddie Reese (19 points, six assists) and Emanuel Shepard (15 points, nine rebounds) down the stretch and Jared Sam produced his conference-leading 11th double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

Southern (11-14, 7-5 SWAC) got hot after halftime by making 50 percent of their shots in the second half (15-of-30) and controlled the boards with a 43-27 rebounding advantage.

Martaveous McKnight led the Golden Lions (9-16, 9-3 SWAC) with 23 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.  Travon Harper shot 8-of-9 including 3-of-4 from 3-point range to total 19 points before fouling out late in the game.

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ITTA BENA, Miss. – Behind a 19-point, 10-rebound effort by Faith Ohanta, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-8, 1-0 SWAC) fended off a Mississippi Valley State (0-14, 0-1) comeback attempt to win a 64-59 contest at R.W. Harrison HPER Arena Monday evening.

Malaik Muhammad added 17 points and five rebounds to aid the Lady Lions’ cause. Shawntayla Harris swatted four shots.

UAPB went on an 8-0 run to open the first period, and Mississippi Valley’s first points came at the hands of Makalya Bonner at 6:46. After being out paced in the opening minutes, the Devilettes unleashed an eight-point run of their own to tie the contest at 8-8 with 4:35 remaining in the quarter. The remaining time was spent with both teams attempting to outmaneuver the other and ending with a 17-17 score.

During the second and third quarters the momentum swung in favor of the Lady Lions as they were able to outscore the Devilettes 18-10 and 14-8 in the second and third quarters, respectively.

Down 14 entering the fourth, the Devilettes pushed forward, twice getting within four of the Lady Lions. However, the Lady Lions iced matters from the charity stripe. Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s bench scored 38 points, while the MVSU bench tallied 17. Mississippi Valley scored 21 points off turnovers.

LaKendra Bassett led the Devilettes with 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals. Kristy Parker tallied 14 points, five rebounds and one assist. Bonner had eight-points and eight rebounds.

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PINE BLUFF – Cedric Thomas has been named the 20th head coach of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions football team after being involved in the sport for over 15 years. Returning home to the institution that gave him the opportunity to play collegiate football, Coach Thomas brings championship experience to UAPB. Thomas graduated from UAPB in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science and played football as a defensive back with the Golden Lions.

Coach Thomas has held a variety of positions which eventually led to becoming a head coach. He has been a recruiting coordinator, a graduate assistant, a running back coach, a special teams coordinator, a defensive back coach, and a defensive coordinator.

“My first plan of action is to get a coaching staff together,” Thomas said. “I’m in the process right now of making both a short and long list of coaches and just reaching out to those guys and getting that established. I will also get in the recruiting battles right away.”

Listed below are some of his top accomplishments while on staff at Alcorn State University:

• 2014       Southwestern Athletic Conference East Division Champions
• 2014       Southwestern Athletic Conference Champions
• 2014       Black College Football National Champions
• 2015       Southwestern Athletic Conference East Division Champions
• 2015       Southwestern Athletic Conference Champions
• 2015       Participated in Celebration Bowl
• 2016       Southwestern Athletic Conference East Division Champions (defense ranked top-10 in FCS in total sacks)
• 2017       Southwestern Athletic Conference East Division Champions (defense ranked top-10 in FCS in both red zone and scoring defense)

When asked what it means to come back to UAPB, Thomas answered confidently. “It absolutely means everything. This place saved my life and I feel obligated to give back.” UAPB will host its annual Black and Gold Spring Football Game in 2018 at Golden Lion Stadium.

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JONESBORO – Quarterback Justice Hansen tied the school record with five passing touchdowns and the Arkansas State football team set a single-game record with six passing touchdowns in a 48-3 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday at Centennial Bank Stadium.

Hansen finished 24-of-31 passing for 336 yards and five touchdowns while Logan Bonner was 2-for-3 for 20 yards and a touchdown. Eleven different receivers hauled in receptions for the Red Wolves with Christian Booker (4-76) and Dijon Paschal (4-29) leading the team with four receptions each. Booker had two receiving touchdowns while Omar Bayless, Blake Mack, Justin McInnis and Jonathan Adams Jr. also put six points on the board.

Warren Wand led A-State (1-1) on the ground with nine rushes for 62 yards, including a touchdown. Johnston White added 10 carries for 37 yards as the Red Wolves had 137 yards rushing. A-State finished with 493 total offense and was 5-for-12 on third down.

Defensively, A-State limited UAPB (1-2) to 280 yards of total offense and forced five turnovers. Kyle Wilson had a sack and interception while Hunter Moreton led with six tackles. Jarrod Chandler, Christian Howard and Ronheen Bingham also recorded sacks for the Red Wolves.

“Overall just excited to get the win,” said A-State head coach Blake Anderson. “Any way you can get a ‘W’, you need to be excited about it. I thought the crowd was great and anytime you can win at home, you need to be excited about it. Overall, just frustrated with sloppy play. We had missed kicks, missed tackles and missed assignments and a lot of times where we could have moved the chains and didn’t. I told the guys we have to continue to improve.”

“We have a lot of inexperienced guys playing and you could see that tonight where there were times I thought we could have stretched this thing out and we weren’t able to do it early enough. That would have allowed us to get a lot of young guys on the field and we kept that in question longer than we wanted to. It will be a great teaching tape and we got to get it fixed because we have a very tough football game next week against a very good football team in SMU. Just looking at the guys eyes in the locker room, they realize it and weren’t making excuses for it. We had a lot of heads shaking ‘Yes Sir” and that correction starts tomorrow tonight.”

After Blaise Taylor logged his fifth career interception, the Red Wolves used just 2:15 to march down the field for a touchdown. Wand and White combined for 43 yards on the ground, but two completions by Hansen proved the difference. Hansen connected with Christian Booker for a 38-yard scoring play.

A missed field goal by the Golden Lions gave the ball back to A-State and the Red Wolves took advantage. Hansen completed 6-of-7 passes on the drive, capping the 11-play scoring drive with a three-yard strike to Mack.

UAPB got on the board with a 30-yard field goal midway through the second quarter, but A-State quickly responded. Hansen completed five-straight passes spanning 53 yards. The ground game got A-State into the end zone as Wand rushed 12 yards for the score and a 20-3 lead for the Red Wolves.

Hansen tossed three more touchdown passes in the third quarter as he helped the Red Wolves expand the lead to 41-3. Hansen hooked up with McInnis for a 73-yard touchdown pass and catch on the second play of the quarter and later targeted Bayless for a 23-yard score. Hansen closed his night with a 23-yard touchdown pass to freshman Adams Jr. Bonner entered the game at the start of the fourth quarter and connected on 2-of-3 attempts, including a nine-yard touchdown pass to Booker.

A-State travels to Dallas to face SMU Saturday at Gerald R. Ford Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m. on ESPN3.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) today announced that it will forgo its football championship game following the 2017 Toyota SWAC Football Championship.

“With the creation of the Celebration Bowl as a national showcase for HBCU football, the Council of Presidents and Chancellors decided to suspend the championship game format after the 2017 season,” said Commissioner Duer Sharp.  “By focusing on the Celebration Bowl, we can continue to grow the AFRCB as an HBCU classic for the teams and fans of both conferences and for HBCU football nationally.”

The championship game will be played on December 2, 2017 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.  The SWAC champion will earn an invitation to play in the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on December 16, 2017. Established in 2015 and recognized as one of the premier events in HBCU college football, the Celebration Bowl features the champion of the SWAC versus the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion.

Beginning in 2018, the SWAC football championship title will go to the team with the best regular season conference record.  The conference office along with SWAC administrators and coaches will work to solidify a tie-breaker procedure, scheduling and other factors that contribute to dissolving the championship format.

Originally introduced in 1999, the SWAC championship game was originally played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala., for 14 years before moving to Houston in 2013.

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