Feb. 1, 2005
Fayetteville, NC - The Lady Rams of Winston-Salem State University traveled to Fayetteville, NC on Tuesday evening looking to snap a four-game losing streak as they tipped-off at Felton J. Capel Arena versus the Lady Broncos of Fayetteville State University in an important CIAA Western Division women's basketball contest. The contest, and epic CIAA battle would need overtime before the home-team Lady Broncos emerged victorious by the score of 83-76.
The Lady Rams, whose last trip to Capel Arena ended in a 105-69 heartbreaking loss on Valentine's Day in 2004, once again got started slowly. The host-team Lady Broncos jumped out to an 8-0 lead less than five minutes into the game, as it would take WSSU 5:04 to record a field goal when a Cherena Douglass (Springfield, IL) jump shot gave the Lady Rams their first points of the game, trimming the WSSU deficit to 8-2.
The Douglass jump shot seemed to be the wake-up call that the Lady Rams needed as they would go on an 8-2 run of their own to knot the score at 10-10 with exactly 11 minutes to play in the first half.
Douglass' sixth point of the half would give WSSU their first lead of the contest at 12-10 as the Lady Rams used interior size and aggressive rebounding to not only recover from their slow start, but briefly forge ahead of the Lady Broncos.
Despite the countless offensive rebounds and fast break opportunities that were so instrumental in the Lady Rams' offensive outburst during the first half, the formidable Lady Broncos took a two-point lead into the locker room at halftime, leading 31-29.
The Lady Rams would dominate the glass in the first half as they pulled down a season half-high 30 rebounds, with nine of them coming on the offensive end of the court.
Fayetteville, NC native Shalonda Carter played well during the first 20 minutes of her homecoming as well, tallying 11 points and 12 rebounds during the first half as she recorded her ninth double-double of the 2004-05 season.
|
|
 |
The second half of play was one in which the Lady Rams came out of the locker room with much more active feet than they had started the game with, and it paid immediate dividends as WSSU surged ahead once again, leading 43-40 with only seconds more than 12 minutes to play in the game.
The lead would again be short-lived as the two teams would trade 4-0 runs for nearly the remainder of the contest with neither school being able to break the game open.
The game would continue to be undecided in the very final minute of play as WSSU trailed the Lady Broncos 69-67 with 46.4 seconds to play in the contest when 2003-04 CIAA Rookie of the Year Shalonda Carter earned a trip to the free-throw line looking to tie the contest.
Carter did just that, knotting the game at 69-69 as she successfully converted both foul shots. Carter's dramatic free-throws would not cap her evening as she would come up with a steal only 24 seconds later to give WSSU the opportunity for the last shot of the game.
However, the Lady Rams' 30th turnover of the contest gave the Lady Broncos posession with three seconds remaining, providing the home team with the ability to earn the win with a last-second shot. Fayetteville State would not get a shot off as time expired with the game tied at 69-69 as the two teams headed to overtime, the first overtime contest of the 2004-05 season for both teams.
The overtime period would be all Lady Broncos as FSU started the five-minute extra-session with a 10-0 run to secure the win, handing WSSU their fifth straight loss in the process.
Leading their respective teams were Shalonda Carter of Winston-Salem State with 26 points and 18 rebounds, and Monica Mason of Fayetteville State with 25 points. WSSU's Cherena Douglass turned in a career-high 12 points and 13 rebounds in the contest, eclipsing her previous career-high of seven points, which she scored last week (January 27th, 2005) versus Johnson C. Smith University.
With the loss, the Lady Rams fall to 10-9 overall and 2-6 in the CIAA. The defeat drops to WSSU to 1-2 in the CIAA's Western Division. With the win, the Lady Broncos improve to 10-7 overall and 7-2 in the CIAA. Most importantly for Fayetteville State, the win improves the Lady Broncos to 4-1 in the CIAA's Western Division. WSSU now drops to 2-5 in games decided by five points or less.
WSSU will return to action on Thursday evening at 7:30 pm as they travel to Lawrenceville, VA to take on the Saint Paul's College Lady Tigers in an intra-division contest. The game, originally postponed due to adverse weather and travel conditions, will see the Lady Rams play the latter of two games, with the men's contest to preceed the Lady Rams' game.
For additional information on WSSU women's basketball, contact the WSSU Office of Sports Information at (336) 750-2143 or log on to the Official Website of WSSU Athletics at www.WSSURAMS.com
