Elizabeth City State women return to title game

Elizabeth City State women’s team is back in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament championship game, but the Vikings still aren’t satisfied.

“We didn’t come back to get second,” coach Tynesha Lewis said.

Elizabeth City State lost the title game last season to Lincoln. Now the fifth-seeded Vikings will play for the crown Saturday after beating No. 8 Johnson C. Smith 53-52 at CFG Bank Arena on Friday.

“We feel like it’s unfinished business for us,” said forward Jessica Adams, who transferred to the school this season.

“Coming into this program where we know what happened last year, it just makes us that much more hungry.”

Elizabeth City State (19-10) never trailed and led comfortably for most of the contest by holding Johnson C. Smith (13-16) to 24.5% shooting. But the Golden Bulls didn’t allow the game to get out of hand and nearly mounted a comeback in the final minutes.

The Vikings led by nine going into the fourth quarter and by six with five minutes remaining, but All-CIAA stars Shaniya Jones (16 points) and La’Zarea Bowens (19 points, 13 rebounds) made key plays down the stretch to pull the Golden Bulls from Charlotte, North Carolina, within one point in the final minute. Jones’ step-back jumper in the final seconds bounced off the rim to end Johnson C. Smith’s tournament run.

“Shaniya Jones and Bowens were just outstanding,” Lewis said. “But I’m so proud of our young ladies because we knew in the tournament it’s going to come down to a stop and a rebound, and they got that done.”

NyAsia Blango was the hero for Elizabeth City State in its first two tournament games, as the junior guard who averaged just 7.8 points per game during the regular season carried the Vikings offense with 21 and 30 points in the first round and quarterfinals, respectively. The Vikings, however, didn’t need Blango’s scoring Friday, as it was Dy’Jhanik Armfield who carried the load with 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting with a trio of 3-pointers.

Armfield led the team during the regular season with 10.7 points per game, but she scored 20 or more just twice in 25 games entering Friday. The junior guard scored six points in both of Elizabeth City State’s first two tournament contests.

“[Armfield] can play. She can do it all, score at all three levels — finish at the rim, one-dribble pull-up, 3-point shot,” Lewis said. “I’m not surprised. She can do this any given night. I’ve got several players who can do this, which hopefully takes the pressure off them individually.”

The Vikings from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, entered the tournament with one of the league’s best defenses and most balanced offenses, with no player averaging more than 11 points per game. But now it’s the high-volume scorer — first Blango and now Armfield — that has the Vikings

one win away from a CIAA championship.

“Any of us can drop 20, 25, 30 points if we wanted to,” Armfield said. “It’s just about how we prepare mentally before we step on the court. … I was just really locked in today and went out there and hooped.”

For Johnson C. Smith, the loss marks the end of an improbable tournament run. The Golden Bulls went 11-15 in the regular season and 6-10 against CIAA foes, but the talented squad beat No. 9 Virginia Union in the first round and upset No. 1 Fayetteville State in the quarterfinals.

“It’s unfortunate, obviously, but I am proud of my teammates,” Jones said. “It is a tough loss, but it’s not really much we should hang our heads about.”

Elizabeth City State will play the winner of No. 2 Lincoln and No. 6 Shaw in the championship Saturday at 4 p.m.

Samage Teel’s game-winner lifts Winston-Salem State men over top-seeded Virginia Union, into CIAA final

With his team down one point in the final minute, Samage Teel went into his bag and chose his best weapon: the one-dribble pull-up to the left.

“I’ve put in a lot of work, so once I released it I knew it was good,” Teel said.

Teel’s jumper, which swished through the hoop with 11.3 seconds remaining, was the game-winner in No. 5 Winston-Salem State’s 45-44 victory over No. 1 Virginia Union on Friday in the CIAA Tournament semifinals.

“Samage did what any good scorer would do: He got in the gap and pulled up off the left-hand dribble,” Winston-Salem State coach Cleo Hill said. “Off the left-hand dribble, it’s 90 percent going [in].”

Hill said the play had four different options. Teel making a decision — whether to drive, pull up or pass to Jaylin Parker — was the third.

“Before the play started, my main thing was just making the right decision,” said Teel, who led the Rams with 13 points and seven rebounds. “But once I seen that the defense had shaded on Parker, I just went ahead and went to what I know best, which is my one-dribble pull-up to the left.”

The win puts Winston-Salem State back in the CIAA final for the first time since 2020, when the Rams defeated Fayetteville State for their 12th conference title.

The win also snaps the four-game winning streak that Virginia Union held over the Rams — a stretch that includes the semifinal in last year’s tournament.

“This is big for us because last year we came here and didn’t reach our goal,” Teel said. “I feel like we let a lot of people down last year.”

While seeing a final score for an NCAA Division II men’s basketball game in the 40s is atypical, the slugfest wasn’t as surprising considering Virginia Union (23-7) and Winston-Salem State (20-8) sport two of the top three scoring defenses in the CIAA. Both teams shot worse than 35% from the field, with Virginia Union making just 3 of 21 attempts from behind the arc.

The Panthers from Richmond, Virginia, led for almost the entire game, but each time they started to pull away the Rams from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, battled back to stay within reach. Virginia Union led 39-32 midway through the second half, but the Rams came back to tie the game at 41 and take their first lead of the game with 3 minutes, 36 seconds left.

CIAA Player of the Year Robert Osborne (18 points) then tied the score with a baby jumper, and All-CIAA forward Raemaad Wright (three points, 12 rebounds) later put the Panthers up one with a free throw.

Before Teel’s game-winner, Osborne had the chance to extend Virginia Union’s lead, but he was denied getting the ball down low and then missed a 3-pointer while being guarded by Jaylen Alston (nine points).

“He’s tenacious,” Hill said of Alston. “Defensively, he wanted the challenge.

“Osborne had a very good game, but in those key moments I thought Alston was able to funnel him into positions that he didn’t want to get to.

“That’s what he is for us. He’s a leader on both ends.”

Virginia Union coach Jay Butler then drew the final play up for Osborne to drive to the hoop, but Winston-Salem State crowded the lane and the senior forward passed to Devon Sims, whose 3-point attempt seconds before the buzzer clanked off the rim.

“They made one more play down the stretch,” Butler said.

Winston-Salem State will play the winner of No. 2 Fayetteville State and No. 6 Lincoln in the championship Saturday at 1 p.m.

No. 5 Winston-Salem State 45, No. 1 Virginia Union 44

WS — Teel 13, Alston 9, Springs 8, Wilkins 4, Shaw 4, Parker 3, Parson 3, Fennell 1.

VU — Osborne 18, Harding 17, Sims 4, Wright 3, Joseph 2.

Halftime: 21-16, VU.