Feb. 23, 2010

Final Stats

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kenyatta Gill made sure the 35th annual CIAA Women's basketball tournament started off fast.

The Elizabeth City State junior scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the first half and helped the Lady Vikings to a 65-57 win over Virginia Union on Tuesday.

"We just wanted to play from the beginning like 40 minutes straight," Gill said. "We just wanted to play hard, play smart and stick to the game plan."

VUU (7-19) scored the opening basket, before Joyce Freeman and Gill keyed a 12-4 run that gave the Lady Vikings a nine-point lead they would never relinquish.

The Lady Panthers shot 43.1 percent from the field and out-rebounded ECSU 43-31. However, the Lady Vikings scored 29 points off of 28 VUU turnovers.

"I take my hat off to Elizabeth City, they came out and fought hard," said VUU head coach Bryan Underwood. "I just thought we turned the ball over a little too much. One of the biggest things we want to do is get to the foul line and we only got there 15 times. Other than turnovers, I think it'd be a brand new ball game."

Joyce Freeman nailed three of her five 3-point attempts and finished with 11 points and eight rebounds for ECSU. Kearah Jefferys contributed 10 points, four steals, four rebounds and two assists.

Tonaye Smith, the CIAA Player of the Year, was plagued by foul trouble but managed a team-high 21 points in her final game at VUU.

Despite the loss, Smith said she has no regrets.

"I'm happy actually, because I left it all out there," she said. "I'm happy I'm graduating. That's all -- I did the best I could."

Smith picked up her fourth foul with 16 minutes remaining in the game and her team trailing by five. When she re-entered at the 9:15 mark, VUU was down nine.

"We stuck to the game plan," said ECSU head coach Alico Dunk. "We wanted to shut the floor down and make everything tough for (Tonaye) Smith."

ECSU (18-9) will meet Western Division Champion St. Augustine's on Wednesday inside Time Warner Capel Arena. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.

"They're a scrappy team and they pressure the ball very well," Freeman said. "Just like tonight, we have to take care of the ball and be patient on offense. On defense, we just need to match their intensity."

While ECSU is preparing for another CIAA tournament game, VUU's Gabrielle Easley is already thinking about next season.

"We have a great team coming back," she said. "We just have to reflect on the mistakes we made this year and get better as a team. Individually we need to work harder on certain things to come together."

Easley had nine points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Lady Panthers.

ECSU led 36-24 at halftime and by as much as 12 in the first half. Gill had 16 first-half points while Freeman added 10.

For information on the CIAA tournament, visit http://theciaa.com/championships/2009-10/winter/trn2010/trnindex .