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(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) Super Saturday hasn't disappointed as CIAA basketball fans have been treated to entertainment from all facets today. From band and cheer competitions to entertainment by celebs, all of this leading up to the 2009 CIAA Basketball Championships, which tipped off at 5:00pm tonight. Tonight's women's championship game featured top seeded Bowie State and third seeded Johnson C. Smith. Top dog Bowie State had three CIAA Tournament Championships heading into tonight's title game while Head Coach Vanessa Taylor and her Lady Golden Bulls were searching for their first title in four appearances in the championship game.
Taylor and the Lady Golden Bulls would find what they were searching for after dropping the top seeded Lady Bulldogs 49-36 and claiming stake to the school's first-ever CIAA Tournament Title. Wendy Stywalt (Charlotte, NC) dropped 30 points to help bring the title to her hometown for the first time in four attempts. The Lady Golden Bulls crashed the boards, out rebounding the Lady Bulldogs 49-41 and hitting 32percent of their shots from the floor to BSU's 24 percent.
The first half was tightly played and low-scoring for both teams as they struggled from the floor. But around the ten minute mark both teams started to heat up offensively. JCSU's Wendy Stywalt (Charlotte, NC) gave her team their first lead of the game at 10-9 when she converted a three-point play after being fouled in the paint. Two possessions later Tyra Breaux (Baltimore, MD) hit a floating jumper in the lane to spread the Lady Golden Bulls to 12-9. Sophomore Teaunsha Robinson (Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Polytechnic) knotted the game at 15-15 with a bucket in the paint but JCSU converted their next possession into bucket to take a 17-15 with just under four minutes to play in the first half. Just two minutes later Stywalt converted baskets on back-to-back possessions for the Lady Golden Bulls to pull ahead 24-23. Junior Bianca Lee (Temple Hills, MD, Archbishop Carroll) hit a three-pointer for the Lady Bulldogs with 12 ticks on the clock before halftime to take the 26-24 edge into the break.
With the tournament title on the line both teams played with maximum effort, making the second half just as thrilling as the first. Both teams scored buckets on their first two possessions to open the second half of play, giving the Lady Bulldogs a 30-28 lead with 14:34 to play in the game. JCSU's Demetria Bell (Indianapolis, IN) grabbed her own rebound and put it back up for a score to knot the game at 30-30 out of a timeout at the 14:00 mark. Stywalt hit two foul shots on the Lady Golden Bulls next possession to give her team their first lead of the second half at 32-30 with 12:00 to go. Stywalt grabbed a defensive rebound at the ten minute mark and drove down the floor for a lay up to give her team the largest lead of the half at 36-33. Stywalt took the offense into her own hands as she scored nine straight points for JCSU to give the game the largest lead at 41-33 with 6:30 to play. Lee hit a three pointer just seconds later for BSU to cut the JCSU lead to five points. Stywalt continued to dazzle the crowd, converting buckets in transition and hitting shots at the line, spreading her teams lead to eleven points with 1:04 to play in the game. Nicole Matthews (Baltimore, MD) iced the game for the Lady Golden Bulls after hitting 1-2 from the line at the one minute mark to give her team a 48-36 lead. Bell hit 1-2 from the line to give the Lady Golden Bulls the eventual 49-36 win and conference title.
Wendy Stywalt finished with a game-high 30 points and 12 rebounds and was named to the Food Lion All Tournament Team. Demetria Bell finished up with nine points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Golden Bulls.
For BSU, Lee had a team-high 14 points to go with seven rebounds while Robinson and senior Denisha Kenion (Ft. Washington, MD, Oxon Hill, University of Virginia) each chipped in 10 points.
The Lady Golden Bulls improve to 20-10 after today's victory while Bowie State ends the year at 19-11.
