Feb. 28, 2005

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Raleigh, NC - When the Lady Rams of Winston-Salem State University took the court at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC on Monday evening, they looked more like the team that took the court in November than the one that lost seven straight games during the latter half of January and the early portion of February, as they turned a four-point first-half deficit into a 12-point halftime lead that they would never relinquish en route to a 66-55 win over the Virginia Union University Lady Panthers in the opening round of the 2005 CIAA Women's Basketball Tournament.

WSSU started the contest off with a pair of turnovers as Virginia Union was able to draw first blood, recording the first field goal of the contest on a 15-foot jumper by Katchona Johnson (Emporia, VA) as the higher-seeded Lady Panthers got out to an early 2-0 lead.

A pair of back-to-back three-point field goals would give the Lady Panthers their largest lead of the half, a four-point margin, with 13:25 to play in the first half.

Trailing 10-6, the Lady Rams would turn to their strengths to get back into the contest. Shalonda Carter (Fayetteville, NC), who was a surprising omission to the All-CIAA Women's Basketball Team after garnering Rookie of the Year honors in 2003-04, showed her displeasure with the all-conference snub as she tallied 10 points and six rebounds in the half, posting an impressive five-for-five shooting performance.

Carter would not be the only Lady Ram to inflict damage upon the Lady Panther defense as Latoya Armstrong (Rocky Mount, NC) would also record 10 points during the game's first 20 minutes of play as she and Carter were the only players to crack into double-digits in the first half.

The solid play of Carter and Armstrong, coupled with Virginia Union's poor shooting (eight of 34 in the half for 23.5%), enabled the Lady Rams to pull ahead by as many as 13 points in the period. It was a lead that WSSU was able to keep for the remainder of the half, taking a 12-point cushion to the locker room at halftime, leading 35-23.

Virginia Union would not roll over for the Lady Rams as they started the second half with a 12-2 run over the first six minutes of play as WSSU would tally only a pair of free throws during the first third of the second period.

Virginia Union would shave the WSSU lead to as little as two points as it would take the Lady Rams 7:16 to record their first second-half field goal. The Lady Rams however, would snap the field-goal drought with a Tiffany Tonkins (Greensboro, NC) second-chance jumper to push their lead back to eight points at 43-35.

The Lady Rams added to their second-half lead, once again increasing it to double-figures as aggressive WSSU defense and production from the free-throw line would ultimately seal the Lady Panther's fate.

WSSU head coach John Williams, who earned his first CIAA tournament game victory with the win had the following comment:

Shalonda Carter Led All Scorers With 25 Points And 15 Rebounds In The Win Over Virginia Union

"I was pleased with the effort, especially in the first half. I think that Virginia Union did a good job in the second half, as they cut it to only two points, just like they did to us earlier in the season when they beat us, but this time, we were able to recover and used good free throw shooting to earn this win."

Leading the way for the Lady Rams was Shalonda Carter who led all scorers with a game-high 25 points in the contest as she would miss only one shot in the game, going nine for ten. She also recorded 15 rebounds in the win. She was joined in double-figures by Latoya Armstrong who recorded 12 points and Cherena Douglass who pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds. Virginia Union was led by Andrea Colbert who recorded 19 points in a losing effort.

With the win, the Lady Rams improve to 14-14 overall as WSSU moves on to face the Western Division #1 seed Fayetteville State University Lady Broncos at 9:00 PM on Tuesday evening in the CIAA Tournament quarter-finals.

The two teams met twice during the regular season with the Lady Broncos picking up a pair of victories, one coming in overtime in Fayetteville, NC by the score of 83-76 and the other coming at the LJVM Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC by the score of 83-82 on a pair of free throw with only two seconds remaining in the contest.

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