Southern women eye three-peat as Jaguars earn high preseason marks
Southern’s women enter the season as the SWAC favorite behind preseason honorees Jocelyn Tate and DeMya Porter, while the men are projected to finish second.
BATON ROUGE, La. — Southern University’s women begin the 2026-27 basketball season with a chance to extend their championship run, while the men look to build on last season’s appearance in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament final.
The Lady Jaguars, winners of consecutive SWAC tournament championships with two straight NCAA Tournament appearances, were picked to finish first in the conference’s preseason poll for the third consecutive year. Southern’s men were projected to finish second after falling in last season’s tournament championship game.
Defense figures to be a strength for the Lady Jaguars. Junior guard Jocelyn Tate earned SWAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honors and a spot on the preseason All-SWAC second team in voting by conference head coaches and sports information directors.
Tate finished last season with 66 steals, averaging 1.9 per game, and recorded at least three steals in 10 games. Her work helped Southern hold opponents to 60.2 points per game, the conference’s second-best scoring defense. swac.org
Tate also collected 125 defensive rebounds and blocked 19 shots during her sophomore season.
Junior forward DeMya Porter joined her among Southern’s preseason honorees, earning first-team All-SWAC recognition after averaging 9.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game last season.
Both Southern teams open the season away from Baton Rouge on Nov. 2. The men face SMU at 7 p.m., while the women visit Oklahoma State.
Fans will get their first home look at both squads against Louisiana Christian. The Lady Jaguars host the Wildcats on Nov. 13 at 11 a.m., followed by the men’s home opener on Nov. 17 at 11 a.m.
