6 The Voice, For students, By Students
SPORTS
March 14, 2012
issuu.com/fsuvoice
CIAA TOURNAMENT 2012:
Women's Basketball Review
By Aaron Williams
After locking down a 4th seed spot in the southern divi
sion the Lady Broncos (12-15,5-11) lost by a thin margin
to Chowan University Lady Hawks. The Broncos defeat
was the second straight 1 st round tough loss in the con
ference since their 2010 Championship win over Bowie
State.
With five seconds left in the second half, Chowan's
Ransheda Jennings, the 5’7 guard from Suffolk, VA, who
had an ankle injury during a turnover battle with 2:26 left
in the last half, made a quick adjustment for the Lady
Hawks to take the lead from 49-50 to 51-50. The Lady
Broncos attempted a fast break to remove the one-point
deficit but the buzzer beat went off just before DaQuon-
dra Cuthbertson, Fayetteville State's freshman forward,
could go in for a game changing lay-up.
“The game is forty-minutes,” stated the Lady Broncos
Head Coach Eva Patterson-Heath in a post game press
conference, “We just weren’t able to finish.”
Tashama Banner, FSU 5-8 Senior Guard from Fay
etteville, NC, and Akysia Resper, the 5-7 shooting guard
from Concord, NC, both respectively led the night with
15 points. Banner came out on top for both with a game
high of five steals. This was both Banner and Resper’s
debut CIAA conference. Unfortunately it was Banner’s
first and last appearance for the conference.
The Lady Broncos had a really slow start at 11-13,
down by two with 7:07 left in the first half Each team
was only putting an average of five points on the board
during the first 13 minutes of the game. However, clos
er to the end of the half they opened up an eight point
lead on the Lady Hawks. The Lady Broncos initially had
gone on a 12-0 run in the second half controlling most
of the points in the paint at the time and knocking down
16-footers on all twelve points. The Lady Broncos took
advantage of Chowan’s inability to control the ball with
Chowan having 16 turnovers in the first half alone.
Sure enough the Lady Hawks (11-16, 3-7) made a swift
attempt to get back in the game recovering lost points and
pressuring the Lady Broncos only down by six with 10:45
left to go in the second half.
It came down to Fayetteville State finishing off and
securing a substantial lead over Chowan, and they had
one. It was 42-28 at the top of the second half, the largest
lead of the night for either team. Unfortunately, the Lady
Hawks responded with securing 12 additional points aid
ed by four successful fast breaks stretching the Broncos
massive lead thin making it a one possession game at the
two minute mark.
The game was based on who could get a late run in the
second half The Lady Broncos truly had that in control
until the Lady Hawks found some weak spots and secured
their bid to advance to the Quarterfinals.
FSU Women’s Basketball has had a very interesting
year thus far doubling their win totals and defeating the
top teams throughout the season. Without a doubt, these
ladies will return to Charlotte with a vengeance.
Alicia Person (4), sophomore guard,
jumps for a shot against Chowan Uni
versity's Janelle Murphy (13), sopho
more guard, during the first round of
the CIAA Tournament on Tuesday,
February 28 in Charlotte. NC.
Voice Photos by Aaron Williams
Chowan University's Talaya Lynch (1), junior wing and T'Arra
Cutting (2), junior guard double up while attempting to steal
the ball from Fayetteville State University's Tierra Coleman
(33), junior center, but FSU's Bria Evans (24), freshman
forward and Tashama Banner (11), senior guard double up to
block the steal.
Left: Je'Lena Robertson
(12), sophomore point guard,
jumps for a shot against
Chowan University's Danielle
Coleman (24), junior fonward,
during the first round of the
CIAA Tournament on Tues
day, February 28 In Charlotte
NC.