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VSU Fights on Unfriendly Foundation in Fayetteville

The Virginia State University Lady Trojans rode the Trojan Express down I-95 and signaled onto Exit 95 to play against the 15 - 8 Lady Broncos of Fayetteville State University. At 5:30 p.m., both teams were eager to take center court to kickoff their competitive CIAA contest. There was only one problem… there were not any black and white striped whistle-blowers in sight! When the referees arrived, they received a resounding round of applause. The Lady Trojans were unsuccessful in upsetting the Lady Broncos in J. Capel Arena as VSU was defeated 95 – 80.

The Lady Broncos’ possession of home court advantage, an undefeated home record, and a five game winning streak were factors that VSU had to play against. Furthermore, VSU’s last road victory was back on February 5^th when the Lady Trojans stole a win from the Lady Tigers of Saint Paul’s College. Despite the sixty-minute tardy tip-off, and with all this in mind, VSU still held a firm focus of grabbing another win before preparing to play in the 2005 CIAA Basketball Tournament. In the beginning of the first half, FSU led 8 – 3. Lady Bronco #23 Kelly Reid was responsible for six of those eight points. VSU’s #20 Jennifer Rhodan made three out of four free-throw deposits to put the Lady Trojans on the scoreboard. The Lady Trojans’ first successful field goal was a top-of-the-key three-pointer by #21 Erica Glasper. Another three-pointer by #24 Ravin Yancey brought the Lady Trojans within one point of the Lady Broncos. VSU’s 15 – 4 offensive storm frightened FSU into taking a 13:30 timeout. At 4:02, the Lady Broncos’ Head Coach tapped his shoulders for his second thirty-second timeout with VSU up 31 – 26. FSU’s #14 Tiffany Mitchell hit 1 of 2 free-throws to bring the Lady Broncos within two points of the Lady Trojans. After her that made free throw, Mitchell lingered around long enough in the backcourt to catch a misfired pass from Lady Trojan #24 Ravin Yancey. Mitchell hurriedly turned her steal into two points to tie the score at 33 – 33. The Lady Broncos went up 35 – 33 when #10 Passion Phillips drove the lane for a lay-up. FSU’s #23 Kelly Reid scored 15 points in the first half to led FSU into intermission with a 40 – 33 advantage.

In the second half, VSU’s Head Coach Stephanie Evans’ held high hopes of her players following in the footsteps of her veteran point guard #21 Erica Glasper. In the first half, Glasper showed to truly be an unselfish player as she collected five assists to tag along with her 10 points. However high those hopes hovered, they were dreams dramatically awoken with realistic mistakes. The Lady Trojans failed to take care of the ball and transformed their first six straight offensive possessions into six straight turnovers. The inconsistency in production forced VSU to take its first second half timeout at 16:15. Although the Lady Broncos’ led 66 – 51 at 9:51, FSU requested a full timeout. As for the Lady Trojans, their defense struggled to stay strong throughout the second half. VSU did cool the hot hands of FSU’s #23 Kelly Reid. Reid was only able to total two more points to her first half total. Nevertheless, #5 Monica Mason was a flaming furnace that scorched the Lady Trojans’ defense with a backpack of baskets. Also, the centrifugal force pulled a number of #14 Tiffany Mitchell’s shot attempts in as well. The teammates had 10 points in the first half, but combined for 28 points in the second half. By the 2-minute mark, the Lady Trojans were lapped with a 91 – 63 lead. VSU did not give up as 10 of their 47 points were scored in the last 15 seconds.

Leading in scoring for the Lady Broncos were #23 Kelly Ried and #14 Tiffany Mitchell each with 17 points. Additional scoring was made by #5 Monica Mason with 14 points and #00 Ashley White with 13 points. Defensively, FSU was led with Mitchell’s 6 steals and #20 Angela Perry’s 12 rebounds.

Leading in scoring for the Lady Trojans was #21 Erica Glasper with 27 points. Other production of offense was supplied by #20 Jennifer Rhodan with 23 points, and #24 Ravin Yancey and #1 Caromekia Parker both with 11 points. Glasper had a team high 7 assists.