LaQwesha Gamble filled out her stat lines in the second half to finish with 17 points, seven rebounds, and four steals in the 69-64 semifinal win over Bowie State
CIAA Semifinal Box vs. Bowie State
CHARLOTTE, NC — The No. 23 Johnson C. Smith University women's basketball team fought back in the second half of the 2011 CIAA Semifinals for a 69-64 victory against Bowie State University on Friday afternoon inside the Time Warner Cable Arena. JCSU improves to 24-3 overall and will play Shaw University on Saturday, March 5th at 5:00 p.m. for the CIAA Tournament Championship.
This matchup featured both No.1 seeds from each division. Johnson C. Smith, the Southern champion and topped ranked CIAA team in the NCAA DII Atlantic region (No. 5), overcame a 36-27 halftime deficit and then a four-point deficit in the final 54 seconds for a chance to play for the title.
The regular season Northern champion Bowie State (18-10 overall), led much of the night going up as much as 11 at 38-27 after its opening bucket in the second half. BSU appeared have a comfortable 64-60 edge with 54 seconds left before two turnovers resulted in the Lady Bulldogs' demise.
“I said to myself it's not over,” said JCSU head coach
Vanessa Taylor. “The young women who have played for me have played very passionately. The culture they have created within the team is to fight. We're going down kicking and screaming. Some of them have stepped up their roles and are willing to take big shots.”
The resurgent win by JCSU sets the stage for a final against Shaw University at 6 p.m. on Saturday. JCSU swept a pair of tightly contested regular-season meetings, most recently a 63-57 encounter at Brayboy Gymnasium on Feb. 14. JCSU last won the conference tournament in 2009 by defeating Bowie State in the championship game.
This will be the fifth time JCSU and Shaw have met in the CIAA Championship game in the 36 years of the women's tournament history. The initial championship meeting took place in 1989 and this will be the fourth meeting since 2003 (2003, 2006, 2008). The Bears have been victorious in all four the previous contests.
With 54 seconds left, BSU's Brittney Jackson made one of two, and on the miss, the Lady Golden Bulls raced down the court, and junior guard
Terrica Jones (Raleigh, NC) sunk a three from the left corner to get JCSU within a possession of the lead with 49 seconds remaining.
CIAA Defensive Player of the Year Chanita Jordan tried to break the press with a pass at midcourt; however it was tipped to junior guard
Terran Quattlebaum (Mitchellville, MD), who capitalized with a lay-up with 33.6 seconds left for a 65-64 lead.
“We're not a very selfish team,” said Quattlebaum. “No one can guard us. Coach tells us that preparation is the key.”
Coming out of a timeout, senior guard
Shontanette Shaw (Raeford, NC) came up with a steal, and Quattlebaum made two free throws to steal the game.
Quattlebaum and junior guard
LaQwesha Gamble (Winter Haven, FL) each finished with 17 points while Gamble also had a team-high seven rebounds. Juliette Turner led Bowie State with 16 points and five rebounds. Jordan added 13 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
The game began with the Lady Bulldogs assuming control, assembling a nine-point on three occasions in the first half. After trailing, 27-18 with more than seven minutes left in the period, the Golden Bulls closed within 27-24, but JCSU struggled mightily from the field after shooting just 25 percent in the opening stanza.
Jordan, Bowie State's, 6-foot-5 center, had a lot to do with that. Although she had just one block in the first half and 2 for the game, she consistently altered shots and got into the psyche of the conference's best team in the regular season.
But the confidence began brewing. JCSU rattled off an 11-1 run to take the lead. Junior guard
Shavonda Price (Fort Wayne, IN) drew JCSU within on a jumper from the free-throw line six minutes into the second half, and two Gamble free throws gave JCSU its first lead since 7-5 2:32 into the game.
BSU would not surrender control quietly. Jordan came through in the post with a spin move that put BSU back up, 42-40. JCSU turned the ball over on its next possession, and Brittney Jackson converted to reassert control for the Lady Bulldogs, who ultimately went up six points with 11:54 remaining.
“We wanted to fight to keep it close. We were aware that Bowie was not going away. They play 40 minutes,” Taylor said. “We knew we'd have to match intensity and play in the second half. I'm so proud of these women to focus and come out and play like another team.”
The Golden Bulls held strong and received a lift when Jordan picked up her fourth foul with 5:39 to go. Senior center
Brittane Neely (Arlington, VA) missed both attempts at the line but Shaw took a feed from Price who corralled the offensive board to give JCSU the lead again, 57-56, with 5:39 to go. The teams changed leads four more times after that including the final time on the Quattlebaum steal and lay-in.
Bowie State turned the ball over 28 times for the game with 18 in the second half. JCSU meanwhile, committed just 16 and had 22 offensive rebounds.
“They got some easy buckets,” BSU head coach Donna Polk said. “We had some missed defensive assignments. They had some big second-chance points and some hustle points.”
