Jan. 25, 2007

COMPLETE NOTES

Friday's game is one of the biggest games of the season for the Lady Rams as the team faces cross-town rival Wake Forest. The Lady Rams will look to gain bragging rights over their ACC opponents when they meet up for the first time in the regular season.

Thinking Pink . . . Pink will be the color of the day when the Lady Rams and Demon Deacons meet up this weekend. Teams competing this season are encouraged to coaching staffs and game day support staff to wear pink to show support for all coaches who are battling cancer. The Lady Ram, staff and fans will show their support by wearing pink to Friday's game.

Setting the Scene . . . Both teams head into Friday's contest needing a win to ease some recent struggles. The Lady Rams have won just one game in their last nine games while Wake Forest heads into Friday's game on a tough nine-game losing streak. 

Atlantic "Coast"-ing . . . The Lady Rams are facing an Atlantic Coast Conference team for the third time this season. The team has had little luck against ACC teams this season with an 0-2 record. The Lady Rams faced the UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels in the second game of the season, taking an 83-32 loss to the Tar Heels. The team took a 75-43 loss at Georgia Tech on January 4th.

Tenacious 'O' . . . Offense has been hard to find for the Lady Rams of late. The team has scored more 50 points in just 13 of the team's 24 games this season and has scored more than 60 points just twice. For the season, the team has struggled shooting the ball this season with a 34.2% field goal percentage this season. 

Untarnished . . . Winston-Salem State head coach Dee Stokes has an unblemished record against Wake Forest during her career scoring a 78-70 win over the Demon Deacons in 1999 as the head coach of the East Carolina Pirates.

A Look Back . . . The Lady Rams posted a 10-18 overall record last season and posted a 5-11 conference record in their final year of membership in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).  WSSU lost in the opening round of the CIAA Women's Championship tournament in Charlotte, NC to the Bowie State University Lady Bulldogs by the score of 52-51 as they closed out 25 years of CIAA basketball play before departing Division II for the ranks of Division I.

Last Action . . . The Lady Rams struggled mightily in their last outing taking a 67-53 loss at Delaware State, Wednesday night. The Lady Rams fell to a hot-shooting Delaware State squad that connected on 26-of-62 shots for 41.9% from the field. Senior center Shalonda Carter had the big night for the Lady Rams with 14 points and five rebounds. Fellow senior guard Kadina Baldwin added 11 points and six rebounds while sophomore guard Keoshia Worthy added 10 points and a pair of steals. The Demon Deacons faced a tougher opponent when they took on the #3 Maryland Terrapins, Sunday night. The Demon Deacs took their ninth loss in a row, 83-60 in the game. Sophomore guard Yolanda Lavender led the way with 22 points for Wake Forest while fellow sophomore forward Alex Tchangoue added 20 points in the game. Sophomore forward Corinne Groves led the WFU rebounding effort with 10 boards in the contest. 

The Series vs. Wake Forest . . . The Lady Rams and Demon Deacons have met three times in the two teams' history with Wake Forest coming away victorious in all three meetings. The two teams last met in exhibition action in 2005 when Wake Forest took a 97-43 win. The series began in the 1979-80 season when Winston-Salem State hosted the Demon Deacons in the first of three meetings. The Lady Rams took a 65-56 loss at home before hitting the "road" for a 61-56 meeting at Wake Forest. The two teams met for their last regular season meeting in the 1980-81 season when Wake Forest took a 74-60 win.

WSSU Radio Coverage . . . The WSSU Department of Athletics will broadcast all the home women's basketball games and Friday's game on WSNC 90.5 FM with Maurice "Big Mo" Stanfield calling all the play-by-play action and LA Batchelor providing color commentary.  The games are also available on the Internet at www.WSSU.edu by clicking on the link "Listen To WSNC 90.5 Online".  The next WSSU broadcast will be on Saturday January 13, 2007 at 2:00 pm when WSSU takes on the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Wake Forest Radio Coverage . . . Wake Forest will broadcast Friday's game on WBRF 98.1 FM. Brock Bowling will handle the play-by-play calling duties while Roper Halverson will add color commentary.

Websites . . . The official site of WSSU Athletics is www.WSSURAMS.com while the official site of the Demon Deacons is www.WakeForestSports.com. Both sites are members of the CSTV.com family. 

A Quick Look at Wake Forest University . . .  Wake Forest was founded in 1834 in the town of Wake Forest, North Carolina and has been a university since 1967. The private coeducational institution moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1956 and boasts and enrollment of 4,255 undergraduate students.

On the Line . . . Every game is a championship game for the Lady Rams, who are in the second year of the transition period in making the move to NCAA Division I. The Lady Rams will also be fighting for some payback and pride as they will face a future conference member as Delaware State is a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Lady Rams will be looking for their first win over a major conference opponent since making the move NCAA Division I. Bragging rights will also be on the line when the two teams meet up. As the only two NCAA Division I teams in the city of Winston-Salem, NC, the winner of Friday's game could call themselves the best collegiate team in the city.

First Neutral Site Contest . . . The Lady Rams' action versus the Wildcats of New Hampshire (at the Lady Luck Classic in Blacksburg, VA) marked the Lady Rams' first contest at a neutral site during the 2006-07 season. WSSU dropped the contest by the score of 63-55 to fall to 0-1 on the season at neutral venues.   

First Thursday Win Of `06-'07 . . . The Lady Rams' most recent win, a 59-50 win over the Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman College marked the first time in the 2006-07 season that WSSU won a game held on a Thursday.  Thursdays have not been kind to the Lady Rams as the team is 1-4 on the fifth day of the week.

T.G.I.Not F . . . The Lady Rams may not shout "TGIF" so much this season with their 0-2 record on Fridays this season. The team will have a chance to make up for their losses when they take on Wake Forest.

First Win of 2007 . . . The Lady Rams took a bit longer than they would have liked to get their first win of 2007 when they took a 66-58 win over Savannah State.

What's On Tap . . . The Lady Rams have their most difficult schedule in the 25-year history of the women's basketball program.  WSSU opened the season with four road games during the season's first week of play.  Winston-Salem State University lost at #2 North Carolina (83-32) on November 12 before traveling to Towson, MD to face Towson on November 14 where they lost 76-51.  WSSU traveled to Auburn, AL to face Auburn University on November 17 where they dropped an 85-47 decision, and then traveled to face Alabama State on November 19 (L, 76-63).  The Lady Rams' lost their first home contest (November 25) when they fell to Johnson C. Smith University at the C.E. Gaines Center in Winston-Salem, NC by the score of 73-63 and then earned their first win of the season, and first road win when they defeated Norfolk State in overtime 75-64.  The Lady Rams fell to Delaware State University by the score of 67-51 and bounced back as they hammered NJIT 72-41.  WSSU followed that win up with a close 66-52 loss to Appalachian State University and then fell again last at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in overtime by the score of 54-48 on December 9, 2006.  The Lady Rams then lost their third consecutive game as they fell in defeat at Elon University on December 14 by the score of 50-42 before bouncing back this past Saturday with a losing-streak-snapping 56-47 win over Norfolk State University.  WSSU's then fell in defeat on December 19 as the Lady Rams played well against a very good Towson Tiger team before losing 57-50 to drop to 3-10 on the season.  WSSU then dropped a pair of games at the "Lady Luck Women's Basketball Classic" hosted by Virginia Tech this past weekend as they fell 43-33 to the Hokies and fell 63-55 to New Hampshire in the consolation match. The Lady Rams have struggled in 2007 taking three straight losses to open the year, falling to Georgia Tech, Livingston, and Radford. Most recently, the Lady Rams took a 67-53 loss to the Delaware State Hornets in Dover, Delaware Wednesday night.

Making History . . . History was made Monday, November 27th in Norfolk, Virginia as the Lady Rams recorded their first Division I win in the program's history.  Coach Dee Stokes netted her first win as WSSU's head coach and the Lady Rams improved to 1-5 at the Division I level with a win over a Division I opponent on the road at Norfolk State University.

New Head Coach . . . WSSU is led by Dee Stokes who is entering into her first year as head coach of the Lady Rams.  Stokes is no stranger to the Division I coaching ranks as she is entering into her fifth season overall and has posted an all-time mark of 54-65.  She comes to WSSU by way of Winthrop University where she spent two seasons as an assistant coach following a four-year spell as the head coach at East Carolina University.  Stokes has posted a 5-18 record at WSSU as head coach and earned her first win as head coach at WSSU on November 27 versus Norfolk State.  She has posted an overall head coaching record of 55-70.

Hitting the Century Mark . . . WSSU senior forward Shalonda Carter has played in over 100 career games at WSSU.  She hit the 100-game mark on Saturday, January 7, 2007 at the C.E. Gaines Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina when she took the court versus Livingstone College. Unfortunately, her 100th game was cut short as she received her fifth foul with just less than 12 minutes left to play.

Next Up . . . The Lady Rams return to the road to take on the Navy Midshipmen on next Wednesday night. The team will hit the road once again to take on the Navy MidShipmen and will return to Maryland to face the Morgan State Lady Bears as well.

Nine Conferences Strong...The Lady Rams will face nine different conferences during the 2006-07 season.  WSSU will face the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) three times, the Colonial Athletic Association (CIAA) three times, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) once, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA - NCAA Division II) twice, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) nine times, the Southern Conference (SoCON) twice, the Big East once, the Big South once and the Patriot League once.  WSSU will also battle five teams that are classified as NCAA Independents.

Right Where She Left Off . . . Senior forward Shalonda Carter is again picking up where she left off last season.  Carter has averaged nearly a double-double for her entire career, a span of 98 career games (of which she has started 94 of them).  Carter is averaging 13.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game this season with a career average of 12.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.  It took Carter only 77 games to break the 1,000-point plateau at WSSU, something she did as a junior.

Transition Year Two . . . The Lady Rams are currently in the second year of a five-year transition from the Division II level to the highest level of competition in Division I.  The Lady Rams are an independent team that will join the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in 2007-08.  Winston-Salem State University will become a full-fledged Division I member that is eligible for championships during the 2010-11 season.

12th MEAC Member . . . On July 20, 2006, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announced that it will expand its membership to 12 members next year, as the league voted to admit Winston-Salem State University into the league beginning in 2007-08. "We are elated to welcome Winston-Salem into the MEAC family", said Commissioner Dennis Thomas. "Obviously we think that WSSU is an outstanding academic institution with an excellent athletics program." Winston-Salem State University is currently in the second year of its reclassification from Division II to NCAA Division I status. WSSU will begin a full MEAC schedule in all sports beginning in 2007-08. However they will not be eligible for MEAC Championship play until the 2010-11 football season. The addition of WSSU marks the first expansion for the MEAC since 1997, when Norfolk State University became the 11th member of the conference.

Road Weary... The Lady Rams are a woeful 23-10 on the road this season taking losses in their last three road games. The team's last win on the road came at Bethune-Cookman when the Lady Rams walked into Moore Gymnasium to take a 59-50 win over the Lady Wildcats.

Home Cooked . . . The Lady Rams have also struggled at home with a 2-7 record at the C.E. Gaines Center this season, including three straight home losses, including last Saturday's loss to the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Lady Hawks, 49-62.

Glass Matters . . . The Lady Rams are 3-12 when their opponents get more rebounds. Opponents are keying in on leading rebounder Shalonda Carter who had been averaging double-digit rebounding this season. The senior's average has dipped to single digits as she is currently averaging 9.8 rebounds per game this season after averaging double-digit rebounds for most of the season. Carter has been the team's leading rebounder in 18 of the team's 24 contests. Carter has been on a bit of a drought not leading the team in rebounding in her last two outings. Sophomore forward Lavontay Johnson has been picking up the slack with six rebounds in each of her last two games.

A New Era; A Proud History . . . The Lady Rams are entering into a new era at WSSU as they are heading into the Division I ranks.  However, the Rams have a history of basketball excellence as they have recorded 12 winning seasons en route to posting an overall mark of 331-337 over the span of 25 years of play.