March 2, 2007
Final Stats
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Elizabeth City State University held off a late charge by Johnson C. Smith University to avoid an upset with a 55-52 win over the hometown Lady Golden Bulls in the CIAA Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals on Friday (March 2) inside Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, N.C.
The Lady Vikings watched a potential game-tying three-point attempt by JCSU guard Tiana Pope fall short with only three seconds left. The Lady Golden Bulls gathered the rebound, but could not get deep enough for another long range try.
ECSU, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, improves its record to 21-8 and advances to the conference championship game for the third time in school history (2005, 1980) to play the top-seed North Carolina Central University at 5 p.m.
Senior forward Tanika Hudgins topped three Lady Vikings to score in double figures with 16 points. Junior center Celeste Trahan, the 2007 CIAA Player of the Year, amassed her 21st double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 rebounds, while senior guard Deanna Price added 10 points, five steals, four assists and three boards for ECSU.
JCSU (16-14) was led by senior guard Brittany Sumpter with a game-high 20 points, while Jones finished with 15 points on five three-pointers. Junior forward Rochelle Bodie grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds in defeat.
The Lady Golden Bulls out-rebounded the victors 44-41, but committed 26 turnovers and shot just 28.8 percent (15-of-52) from the field.
JCSU scored the first six points of the contest, but the Lady Vikings went on a 12-3 run to take a 12-9 advantage on a basket by Price at 13:05. ECSU's biggest lead of the first half was 27-14 after a layup by Christina Hager with 4:35 left before intermission. The Lady Vikings were ahead 29-22 at the half.
ECSU's lead flowed between 10 and four points through the first 17 minutes of the second stanza. Then came the exciting finish.
An old-fashioned three-point play by Price with 2:58 on the clock gave the Lady Vikings a 54-45 cushion and appeared to be the knockout punch. However, JCSU responded by scoring the next seven points to narrow the deficit to 54-52 with 1:21 left. Price made 1-of-2 free throws with 53 seconds left to push the margin to three points.
After exchanging missed shots, JCSU called timeout with 6.7 seconds on the clock. On the ensuing play, Sumpter was double-teamed and found Pope, who had missed all nine three-point attempts during the season, open for the potential game-tying bomb. Her shot missed the mark and the Lady Vikings began celebrating.
