28th Annual CIAA Women’s Basketball Tournament
Monday, February 25, 2002
RALEIGH, NC – No matter the outcome, at least some of the natives of Raleigh, NC, were going to go home happy at the end of the Shaw University-St. Augustine’s College matchup in the final contest of the first day of the 2002 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Just two miles separate the two institutions, but it was the Lady Bears that easily distanced themselves from the Lady Falcons, going on to the 72-48 victory.
The game was less than four minutes old and the score was 12-1 before the Lady Falcons (5-22) knew what hit them. Jamie McDonald started the game with a 3-pointer and a jumper, Latasha Shipman followed up a miss, April Collins hit a jumper and Chiante Wester converted a conventional 3-point play.
Sheba Fullwood helped key a 15-4 run to bring the Lady Falcons within 32-23 with 5:02 left in the half, but the Lady Bears (15-12) would respond with an 8-0 run and went into the break up 42-29.
“We came out with some good intensity early on. I think we got up on them early and they could never catch up,” said Lady Bears head coach Jacques Curtis.
McDonald’s status for the second round when the Lady Bears take on the defending CIAA champion Fayetteville State University Lady Broncos at 7 p.m. is unknown. The all-conference performer went down with a leg injury at the 10:42 mark of the second half and did not return to action. Before the injury, McDonald had scored 10 points and dished out eight assists. Wester had 12 points at the half and finished with a game-high 14 points and Danielle Jones added 13 points. With McDonald down, Patrice Hearns dished out nine assists and Jamie Shipman hauled in 14 rebounds.
The Lady Falcons struggled from the field all night and finished shooting just 26 percent (18-67). They were paced by Shaunita Randolph with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Fullwood with 11 points and six rebounds.
-30-