Elizabeth City State women win first title with victory over Shaw
The Elizabeth City State women’s basketball team entered the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament with “unfinished business.”
That’s what guard Jessica Adams said after the team’s semifinal win Friday sent the Vikings to the CIAA final, where their season ended a year ago.
On Saturday, that business was finished, as No. 5 seed Elizabeth City State defeated No. 6 Shaw, 55-40, at CFG Bank Arena for the program’s first-ever CIAA championship.
“We expected to win, but we didn’t even put it into perspective that we making history,” senior Kamille Pickens said. “This the first time ever. That really feels good.”
A year ago, the Vikings fell in the title game to Lincoln, and coach Tynesha Lewis said that loss motivated her squad to get back to the final and win it. She said so Friday, declaring that her team “didn’t come back to get second.”
“I just had a feeling,” Lewis said Saturday. While Elizabeth City State was the higher seed, Shaw had history on its side — both distant and recent. The Bears from Raleigh, North Carolina, have the most women’s basketball championships in CIAA history with 11. Additionally, Shaw beat the Vikings from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, in both regular-season matchups, including a 55-54 win a week ago.
“My mom told me when we lost to Shaw a week ago, ‘You ain’t seen what’s about to happen,’ ” Lewis said. “When momma say that, I’m good to go. No matter what it looks like.”
Sireann Pitts, who scored eight points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, is part of a veteran core that led the Vikings this season. Pitts, in her fifth year with the program, is one of 15 upperclassmen (three seniors, 12 juniors) on Elizabeth City State.
“I’ve been fussing about leadership all year. They figured it out in the last week. Late, but we’ll take it,” Lewis said with a laugh. “They figured it out, doing a great job leading the ship, and I just backed up and let them do what they know how to do.”
“It’s definitely an honor,” Pitts said. “To see this, it’s humbling and it’s amazing. All the work we put in, it really paid off. I’m really grateful and blessed.”
Elizabeth City State, the top scoring defense in the conference at 56.2 points allowed per game, gave up 55 or fewer points in each of its first three CIAA Tournament games — wins over No. 12 Saint Augustine’s, No. 4 Bowie State and No. 8 Johnson C. Smith. The 40 points Shaw scored Saturday were the fewest the Vikings allowed to a CIAA foe this season. The Bears shot just 25% from the field.
Both teams were playing their fourth game in five days, and they looked like it in the first quarter, as Shaw (18-14) shot just 18.2% and Elizabeth City State (20-10) missed all six of its attempts from behind the arc. But the Vikings came alive from deep in the second quarter, making five 3s to outscore the Bears 22-10 and go into halftime up 16 points.
The Bears couldn’t find that extra gear in the second half, making just five baskets in the final 20 minutes. Brittiney Seymour led Shaw with nine points, while Inari Jones tallied seven points and seven rebounds. Baltimore native MaKenzie Pollard (Western)
scored five points.
Dy’Jhanik Armfield and Maryam Hashim paced the Vikings’ offense with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Hashim and Akyia King (eight points, five assists) each made a pair of 3s in the pivotal second quarter.
NO. 5 ELIZABETH CITY STATE 55, NO. 6 SHAW 40 ECSU — Armfield 13, Hashim 10, Pitts 8, King 8, Nowlin 7, Sherrill 3, Blango 3, Adams 2, Lockamy 1.
SU — Seymour 9, James 7, Jones 7, London 6, Pollard 5, Short 4, Jordan 2.
Halftime: 32-16, ECSU.