CIAA WOMEN
Winston-Salem State 60, Fayetteville State 43
BALTIMORE, MD – South Division top seed Winston-Salem State jumped out to a double-digit second-quarter lead and never let division rival and second-seed Fayetteville State cut the deficit below that margin in posting a 60-43 win in the women’s championship game of the CIAA Tournament here Saturday.
Five-four junior forward Nevaeh Farmer, a juco transfer, had 18 first-half points including draining four of six 3-pointers as WSSU built a 37-18 lead at the half. FSU (21-5) got within 12 several times in the second half but could never threaten the Lady Rams. WSSU forced 24 FSU turnovers that it converted to the eventual winning margin, 17 points.
The championship is the first in tournament history for the WSSU women (26-3) and completes a remarkable turnaround under first-year head coach Tierra Terry, who left as head coach at Virginia Union to take over the Rams’ program. The former WSSU player turned around a team that finished 7-20 a year ago bringing in a new nucleus of players.
“The right combination of players and a united front, a united mentality,” are what Terry said in the postgame press conference fueled the turnaround and the championship run. “I think winning starts in the mind. We recruited players that wanted to win and would do what it takes to win. Our women are tough.”
The teams split two regular-season match ups with each team posting double-digit home wins. FSU halted a 16-game WSSU win streak with a 72-57 home win on Jan. 27. WSSU returned the favor with a 50-36 win on its home court on Feb. 7.
The rivalry was racheted up a notch as FSU fans were heard chanting ‘We want Winston’ after their semifinal win Friday over N. Div. top seed Bowie State. WSSU fans derisively chanted ‘They want Winston?’ back at the FSU faithful late in the championship game win. The chant should have been ‘You Got Winston’ and couldn’t handle them.
“At the end of the day, we were focused on our team,” a humble Terry said of her team’s being aware of the chants. “Sometimes stuff is meant to distract you. And sometimes you don’t need to talk.”
Each of WSSU’s three tournament wins came by double digits, winning by 22 (71-49 over Bluefield State) in the quarterfinals, 35 (67-32 over Claflin) in the semis and 17 points. WSSU entered as the only nationally-ranked CIAA women’s team, 18th in the latest WBCA poll.
Farmer finished with 24 points to lead WSSU with tourney MVP, Temple transfer Makayla Waleed, getting 14 to give the Rams two players scoring in double digits. Sophomore center Maia Charles was a force inside with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks. En route to her MVP award, Waleed had 19 points and six rebounds in the quarterfinal win and four points in the semifinal victory.
FSU was led by 14 from Talia Trotter and 12 from Samaya Barker.
CIAA MEN
Fayetteville State 71, Bluefield State 68
BALTIMORE, MD – Men’s South Division top seed Fayetteville State roared back from a 40-32 halftime and 54-47 deficit with seven minutes left to knock off N. Div. third-seed Bluefield State 71-68 in the men’s championship game of the CIAA Basketball Tournament here Saturday evening.
The up-tempo Broncos (23-6) had trailed since leading 12-10 in the game’s first four minutes before finally pulling even at 57 and taking a 58-57 lead on two Romeo Aquino free throws with 5:48 to play. FSU turned up the defensive heat and forced turnovers resulting in a 16-0 edge in points off turnovers in the second half. The Broncos outscored the Big Blue (16-15) 24-14 over the last seven minutes to pull out the victory avenging a 81-74 win by Bluefield State in the regular season.
“We knew coming into this game that it was going to be a dogfight,” said victorious first-year FSU head coach Devin Hoehn. “But we told our guys, they can be up in the first half but you’ve got to do this for 40 minutes. The team we played (BSU) is a great team but they played three games before this. It was their fourth game in four days and I told these guys if we can really ramp up pressure in the second half, more than what we did in the first half, I promise you their legs are going to go. Down the stretch they were missing shots. I guarantee you that we’re the most in-shape team in this league and it showed today.”
The game curiously matched head coaches and several players who traded places after last season. Hoehn moved from BSU to FSU replacing former FSU coach Luke D’Alessio with D’Alessio taking the reins at Bluefield State. All five FSU starters this season played at Bluefield State under Hoehnn a season ago. D’Alessio brought two of his key players from FSU, Myles Pierre and Anthony Latty, to BSU. Under Hoehn, Bluefield State lost in last year’s championship game 71-64 to Virginia State after beating D’Alessio’s FSU squad in the tournament semfinals.
“Last year, we were supposed to get it (the championship at BSU), but it wasn’t written,” said 6-3 FSU senior guard Terrell Williams, one of those five starters that transferred. “We worked our butts off all summer, preseason and into the season to be here right now.”
Williams was the only Bronco to reach double-figures in the first half with 16 points and added another 13 after the break to finish with a game-high 29 points. He was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. CIAA Player of the Year Larry Howell and Darius Boben added 14 points each. Bolden led the Broncos with seven steals.
BSU had forged the lead and controlled the tempo early behind the play of Shaw transfer point guard Elija Preddy, Pierre and Latty. Preddy finished 20 points and nine rebounds, Latty had 18 points and 10 boards while Pierre contributed 13 points. BSU had a decided 37-16 edge in rebounds but the trio also committed 14 of the team’s 21 turnovers.
“It was a really tough game,” said D’Alessio. “We just had too many turnovers. We had crucial turnovers. You can’t have 21 turnovers and beat a team in the conference championship game like we had today. It’s too many.”
