Southeastern Lady Lions fall to SFA in Southland Conference Tournament final

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Southeastern’s impressive run to another Southland Conference Tournament championship fell short Thursday night.

The Lady Lions suffered their second conference loss of the year to Stephen F. Austin, 65-57, in the tournament final.

The Lumberjacks outscored Southeastern 36-25 in the second half of Thursday’s contest thanks to a 40 percent shooting effort from the field. The Lady Lions outrebounded SFA, 39-36, with 20 second chance points and 34 points in the paint, they just couldn’t knock down shots down the stretch.

Southeastern shot 33 percent (23/69) from the field and 18 percent (4/22) from beyond the arc.

Alexius Horne and Taylor Bell led the team with 13 points each.

While the loss was heartbreaking and hopes of an NCAA Tournament automatic bid are gone, head coach Ayla Guzzardo hinted postgame that the Lady Lions’ season is not over.

Hours after their loss, the athletics department released that “as the regular season champions, SLU (26-5) will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA-sponsored WBIT.”

The WBIT field will be announced after the NCAA Tournament selection show, which begins Sunday night at 7 p.m.