The Winston-Salem State Rams have completed the worst-to-first story, spoiling Fayetteville State’s plans for a three-peat with a 60-43 win in the championship game.
This marks the first conference championship in the Lady Rams’ school history.
In their first season under head coach and alum Tierra Terry, WSSU has made a remarkably quick turnaround, having finished with the worst overall record in the conference the previous.
Returning to her alma mater after a four-year stint with Virginia Union, she led the program to a historic regular season.
The Rams improved from a 7-20 overall record last season to a 23-3 record this year, setting a school record for wins in a season and claiming a share of the CIAA South division title.
“I think it started, I’ll always say it starts with the mind,” said Coach Terry about the key to the Rams’ turnaround. “We recruited people who wanted to win and who knew what it takes to win. Our young women are tough and resilient, and good things happened to us.”
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Entering the CIAA tournament as the South’s number-one seed, they breezed through Bluefield State in their tournament opener, beating them 71-49 to advance to the semifinal round.
The Rams followed that performance with a defensive clinic against Claflin, cementing their spot in the championship game with a 67-32 victory.
Fayetteville State’s three-peat came up short
While Winston-Salem State was in search of its first CIAA title in school history, Fayetteville State was looking to become the first team to three-peat as conference champs since 2013.
Their road to the championship game began with a regular season, in which they posted a 21-5 overall record, claiming the other half of the CIAA South division title.
Starting their tournament run on Thursday, as the number-two seed in the South, they opened with a wire-to-wire 56-49 win over Virginia Union.
They then got a tough test from Bowie State in the semifinal round, rallying from a fourth-quarter deficit to punch their ticket to the title game.
This game started off as a defensive struggle as both teams were running on adrenaline, establishing their presence in the paint, not allowing any easy baskets.
As a result, the perimeter was open for the taking, and it was Winston-Salem State guard Nevaeh Farmer who took full advantage.
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She hit four of her five three-pointers in the first half, including a perfect 3-for-3 in the first quarter, helping her team build a 19-point lead going into halftime.
Winston-Salem State’s defensive intensity caused problems for Fayetteville State’s offense, as they were unable to build a rhythm, shooting just 25% from the field in the first half.
Outside of a small run to end the third quarter, Fayetteville State posed no serious threat, as the Rams kept the pressure on to close out the win.
Fayetteville State head coach Tyreece Brown made no excuses following his team’s loss, saying that Winston-Salem State was the better team today.
“We got some good looks; they weren’t wide open, but they were good looks,” said Coach Brown. “As I said, hats off to [Winston-Salem], we got some good looks, but it wasn’t our night.
A true Cinderella story
Winston-Salem State will now look forward to an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, with the potential to host a region.
The Rams entered the week ranked third in the Atlantic Region, directly behind Indiana (PA), which has since suffered two straight losses.
When speaking about the point of emphasis entering the national tournament, WSSU assistant coach Dylan Anderson says it’s all about doing what works.
“Point of emphasis is going back to the drawing board and doing what got us here,” says Coach Anderson. “We might take it back to some of the things we did in preseason to get us to this point, just to remind them that this works. We might probably even beef it up a bit more.”
The official NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Tournament field is set to be announced on March 15.
