Jan. 26, 2005

Winston-Salem, NC - The Winston-Salem State University Lady Rams basketball team will travel to Charlotte, NC on Thursday afternoon as they look to snap a two-game losing streak when they take on the Lady Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith University. The match up pits WSSU versus the 23rd-ranked Lady Golden Bulls who are one of the nation's hottest team and who are riding a 12-game win streak.

Complete Game Notes...The link to the complete game notes for Thursday's game can be accessed at the following link: http://www.fansonly.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/wssu/sports/w-baskbl/auto_pdf/weekly-release

WSSU Update...The Lady Rams are coming off of back-to-back losses, the first of which was a loss to the #5-ranked (NCAA Division II) Lady Bears of Shaw University last Thursday evening (01/20/05) at the LJVM Coliseum Annex. The Lady Bears proved why they are worthy of the nation's #5 national ranking as they blew open a very close game in the latter stages en route to a 89-71 win over the host -team Lady Rams. The win pushed Shaw's overall record to 16-1 with their only loss coming to the #3 team in the nation, California University of Pennsylvania earlier in the season. WSSU then dropped their second consecutive game this past Tuesday as they fell to Virginia State University at the LJVM Annex by the score of 68-64 after shooting a miserable 42.9% from the free-throw line as they handed over the game, and a win, to visiting VSU to fall to 10-6 on the season.

Head Coach John Williams...Winston-Salem State University head women's basketball coach John Williams is in his third season as the leader of the Lady Rams and has posted an overall record of 38-31. Williams is 23-11 at home in the C.E. Gaines Center/LJVM Coliseum and 12-18 on the road. He has posted a 3-2 record at neutral venues as the head coach of the Lady Rams. He is one game above .500 at 19-18 in the CIAA conference and has posted an 11-8 record in CIAA home games. At home in Winston-Salem, NC he is an impressive 12-3 versus non-conference opponents. He will attempt to add to his total of wins on the road on Thursday as he and his Lady Rams travel to Charlotte, NC to faceone of the hottest teams in the nation, the Johnson C. Smith University Lady Golden Bulls who are coming into the contest at the Brayboy Gym with a 5:30 pm tip-off with a 12-game win streak.

Lady Rams Vs. JCSU...The Lady Rams enter into the contest with Virginia State sporting an overall record of 10-6 after dropping their second straight game, this time by the score of 68-64 at the hands of Virginia State. The road will get no easier Thursday evening as the Lady Golden Bulls head into the contest ranked 23rd in the nation and have won 12 consecutive games. WSSU has never beaten a ranked team, and will have a stiff challenge in JCSU, a team that is undefeated at 7-0 in the CIAA conference and who sits atop of the CIAA's Western Division at 3-0.

Doubles Again...Sophomore forward Shalonda Carter is up to it again...She is once again posting impressive numbers and collecting double-double performances. She is averaging 11.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game this season and has six double-doubles thus far during the 2004-05 basketball season.

Hot, Hot, Hot...There is no better word to describe the Lady Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith other than HOT. JCSU has won twelve consecutive games, is ranked first in the South Atlantic Region and is ranked 23rd in the nation headed into Thursday's match up at Brayboy Gymnasium.

Almost Three In Doubles...The Lady Rams have two starters averaging in the double-digits in scoring. Leading the way is Shalonda Carter who is recording 11.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. She is joined in double figures by Latoya Armstrong off the bench with 9.9 points per game and Janet Robinson who is tallying 10.7 points per game.

JCSU Atop The Rankings...JCSU leads the CIAA in five statistical categories and places second in seven others. The Golden Bulls lead the CIAA in Defensive Rebounds (19.76 rpg); Rebounding Margin (+7.4); Rebounding Offense (47.3 rpg); Scoring Defense (56.6 ppg); and Field Goal Percentage Defense (34.5%).

WSSU trying to stop the bleeding...The Lady Rams will look to try to stop their very own bleeding on Thursday as they seek to hand 7-0 JCSU a conference loss.

About The Lady Rams...The 2003-04 Lady Rams finished the season with an overall mark of 12-14 and a CIAA record of 6-10, good enough to finish in fifth place in the CIAA's Western Division. The Rams have eight letter-winners returning and lose only five players from last season's team. The Rams return three starters in 2004-05 and lose two.

TV Coverage...There is no television coverage for the contest versus Johnson C. Smith University. Check out the official website of WSSU Athletics at wssurams.com for future television updates.

Radio Coverage...The game between the Lady Rams and Lady Golden Bulls will be available on WSNC FM 90.5 with George Croom calling the play by play and Josh Bryant providing color commentary. It is also available on the Internet on www.wssu.edu by clicking on the link entitled "Listen To WSNC." Home radio has yet to be announced.

Career High...Winston-Salem State University guard Kadina Baldwin (So./Fayetteville, NC) turned in a career-high 21 points in the Lady Rams' first game of the season on November 16th, 2004 as she shot six of 10 from the floor and nine of 10 from the free throw line in WSSU's 77-72 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, NC. She has recorded double-digit scoring nights seven times this season.

Guard Production...If the first half of the 2004-05 season is any indication of how the conference season will go, the Lady Rams can count on solid production from their guards. The Lady Rams' guard production started in the season's first game as Kadina Baldwin registered 21 points and shot 60% from the field and Nikki Eason (Sr./Greenville, SC) tallied 15 points and pulled down a pair of rebounds in Winston-Salem State's opening day basketball loss. The pair are both averaging near double figures this season as Eason is averaging 9.7 points per game and Baldwin is only slightly behind that pace as she is averaging 8.8 points per game. The Lady Rams' starting guards are not the only ones getting in on the act as sixth-person Latoya Armstrong is right near both of them off of the bench with 9.9 points per game.

Scoring In Doubles...In all but one game of the 2004-05 season (15 of 16) the Lady Rams have had at least two players record double digits in scoring as WSSU had two players score 10-plus points versus Wingate (win) Queens (win) and Francis Marion (win), had three players do it versus Lenoir-Rhyne (loss) Clark-Atlanta (win), St. Paul's (win) and Shaw (loss), and had four players score 10 points or more versus Bluefield State (win), Paine College (win), Catawba (win), Virginia Union (loss), Elizabeth City (win), St. Augustine's (win)and Virginia State (loss). They had five players score in doubles in the contest versus USC-Upstate (loss) as well. WSSU has benefitted from the fact that seven different Lady Rams have scored 10-plus points in a game at least once this season.

Going Deep...WSSU's John Williams has many weapons at his disposal this year, and one of them is depth. The Lady Rams have 12 players on the active roster (following Bobbi Barnes' departure) and six of them have played in every game. The Lady Rams also have three more players on the roster that have played in 14 or more games during the 2004-05 season thus far. This translates into depth for WSSU as nine of 12 players have at least 13 games under their belt thus far during the season (75.0% of the team).

Career Rejections Leader...Tiffany Tonkins took over the WSSU all-time blocks lead the weekend of November 19th-20th, 2004 as she recorded 10 blocks in two games. She is now the all-time blocks leader in WSSU history as she currently has 133 total blocks, despite being only a junior and a first-year starter in 2004-05. She has 66 blocks this season (4.125 blocks per game avg.)

Almost 42%...The Lady Rams (10-6) are shooting an impressive 41.8% from the field in 2004-'05. WSSU has successfully converted on 415 of their 954 field goal attempts this year.

Clean Up In Period Two - Take Care Of Business...The achilles' heel of the WSSU Lady Rams this season may be their penchant for allowing teams back into games during the second half of contests...That and free throws. The Lady Rams shot themselves in the foot this past Tuesday as they turned in a six-of-fourteen performance from the line, which translates into a season-low 42.9% free-throw shooting performance. The Lady Trojans used that to turn a 3-point deficit at the half into a 68-64 win.