Lady Vikings end Lady Ram’s season with 73-59 Defeat In CIAA

COURTESY WSSU WEBSITERevenge is a dish best served cold. That is what the Lady Vikings of Elizabeth City State were thinking ever since January 8th, 2004 when the Lady Rams defeated them in Winston-Salem, NC by the score of 72-58. Elizabeth City State came into the CIAA Tournament looking for retribution on Monday afternoon, and that is exactly what they got as they dismantled the Lady Rams of Winston-Salem State University 73-59 in a game they only trailed for one inute and 32 seconds en route to a first-round CIAA Tournament victory. Winston-Salem State never got anything going in the first half of play as the fourth-seeded Lady Vikings used an 11-0 run and a pair of 7-0 runs to jump out to a commanding lead over the sixth-seeded Lady Rams, breaking the game wide open. The lone first-half bright spot was a 5-0 WSSU run that cut a 15-point deficit to nine points with 6:29 remaining in the first period of play as the Lady Rams appeared to get going offensively. However, appearances proved to be deceiving as ECSU rattled off one of their pair of 7-0 runs to increase their lead to double-digits, where it would stay for the remainder of the contest, eventually taking a 22-point lead into the locker room at halftime, leading 50-28. The second half of play finally provided Ram fans with something to get excited about as WSSU held the Lady Vikings without a field goal for almost five minutes (11:43 remaining until 6:52 remaining) as they steadily chipped away at the ECSU lead, trimming it back to as little as 14 points. However, it proved to be too-little, too-late as 2004 CIAA All-Rookie team selection Deanna Price (Fr./G/Washington, DC) sealed the victorywith a career-performance as she registered a triple-double, scoring 11 points, pulling down 13 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. Price was not without help as three of five Lady Viking starters would score in double-digits in the victory. Leading the way for the Lady Rams was 2004 CIAA Rookie of the Year Shalonda Carter (Fr./F/Fayetteville, NC) who tallied her 10th double-double of the season turning in 11 points and 10 rebounds in the losing effort. The Lady Rams finish the season at 12-14 overall while ECSU improves to .500 at 13-13 overall and advances to the second round of the CIAA Tournament for the first time since the 2002 season where they will face their former head coach Vanessa Taylor and the Lady Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith University on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 1 pm.