WS Chronicle

Hall

Winston-Salem State’s women’s basketball team finally got over the hump and won its first CIAA game of the season. Now it remains to be seen how far this group will go in A.G. Hall’s third season as head coach.

The Lady Rams (5-9, 1-3 CIAA as of Jan. 11) haven’t reached the break-even point just yet, but there are signs that better days might come soon. For starters, most of the team is healthy again. So, Hall will have to determine which combinations will work best in the coming weeks.

WSSU got a solid day’s work from guard Taylar Wells in a 66-57 win over Virginia State on Jan. 8. Wells, who had been sidelined with a knee injury, scored a team-high 18 points in her second game back since her return. Reliable power forward Dionna Scott more than held her own inside the paint with 13 points and 9 rebounds.

Wells drives to the basket against VSU.

Two days later, the Lady Rams went into a tailspin in a 53-44 loss to Chowan University. Hall’s team took a beating on the boards (out-rebounded by a 56-38 margin) and ice-cold shooting didn’t help matters any. WSSU converted just 16-of-66 shots from the field (24.2 percent).

The women trailed 44-25 with 6:16 to go in second half and closed out the remainder of the game with a 19-9 run, but it wasn’t nearly enough.  Scott contributed 12 points and 3 rebounds. Back-up guard Kesheria McNeil came off the bench to contribute 12 points, 2 assists and 2 steals.

Hall was satisfied with what he witnessed in his team’s first conference win. “Against Virginia State, we showed that we’re growing,” he said. “With all the injuries we’ve had, we’ve had to go with so many different lineups. Under those conditions, it’s difficult to develop the team chemistry that’s necessary to be successful. Now that we have a full complement of players, we’re in a much better situation.”

In order for the Lady Rams to distinguish themselves as legitimate contenders in the CIAA Southern Division, it’s mandatory that they avoid second-half lapses. Such was the case in a conference game at Bowie State on Jan.5. WSSU put together an impressive first half and led 40-23 with 33 seconds remaining.

For the rest of the game, however, things went downhill and never stopped. The end result was a gut-turning 77-72 overtime loss. “We put ourselves in bad positions by not finishing games,” Hall said. “We have to find a way to play better over the final 20 minutes.”

At times it appeared that WSSU might suffer another lapse in its game against Virginia State.  The Lady Rams pulled away and went up 47-27 with 13:41 to go in the second half. The comfortable margin didn’t last. The Trojans stormed back with a 20-10 spurt of their own and pulled to within 10 at 57-47.

Morgan Smiley brings the ball upcourt for the Lady Rams.

That’s when Briana Wilder came through for Winston-Salem State. The senior forward had not played much that game, but came off the bench to hit a momentum-changing 3-pointer that put her team back in control. VSU reduced the lead to 10 points again (65-55 with 2:52 to go), but never seriously threatened to pull off a comeback.

“Briana came in and hit that big 3, and that helped us to settle down,” said Hall. “That’s very encouraging to have your seniors step up and provide what’s needed. I’m confident that we’ll continue to get better at learning how to play with each other as we move forward.”