CIAA Championships

February 27, 2007

Tuesday afternoon's quarterfinals match-up in the 32nd Annual CIAA Women's Basketball Tournament featured the No. 2 seed, Elizabeth City State Lady Vikings (20-8) against the No. 10 seed, Lady Tigers of St. Paul's College (9-19). Coming off a first round bye, ECSU appeared energized and focused, as they moved on to the next round with a 77-61 victory over St. Paul's.

Elizabeth City State jumped out to a 10-2 lead to start the first half. St. Paul's closed the gap after sinking two free throws, followed by a 3-pointer on their next possession. At the 11:24 mark, the Lady Tigers took their only lead of the game (12-11) after two made free throws. ECSU responded with a 12-0 scoring run, dominating the paint on both sides of the ball. The Lady Tigers were outscored by Elizabeth City State in the paint 24 to eight in the first half. CIAA Player of the Year Celeste Trahan recorded a double-double by halftime, leading all scorers with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Lady Vikings closed out the first half up 43-26, shooting 50 percent from the field (15 of 30) compared to 27 percent (8 of 29) from St. Paul's.

The Lady Vikings continued to execute their game plan in the second half. ECSU finished the game outscoring the Lady Tigers 50-18 inside the paint, out-rebounding them 50-34, and scoring 12 points on fast breaks while not allowing the Lady Tigers to score in transition. Three Lady Vikings scored in double digit and two of them (Trahan and Hudgins) had double-doubles. Trahan had the game-high in points and rebounds, finishing with 25 points and 18 rebounds (11 defensive). Senior Tanika Hudgins contributed 20 points and 11 rebounds to the Lady Vikings' victory. Senior guard Deanna Price had an all-around productive game with 14 points, six assists, and four steals.

St. Paul's Juantale Cook had a team-high 15 points coming off the bench and teammate Katrina Wright finished with 10 points. The Lady Tigers shot just 32 percent (18-56) from the field for the game and committed 27 turnovers.

The Elizabeth City State Lady Vikings will face the winner of Shaw University/Johnson C. Smith University in the semifinals on Friday, March 2, 2007 at 3:00 p.m.