Women’s results
WSSU 71, Bluefield State 49
The Rams have proven themselves to be the team to beat this season, affirming their dominance with a sizable win over Bluefield State in the quarterfinal on Wednesday afternoon.
Boasting the No. 1 CIAA status and top-20 national ranking entering the matchup, WSSU is in the midst of a historic season.
Bluefield State nearly went basket for basket with its opponent in the early going as WSSU didn’t begin to pull away until the second half. The Rams led 13-11 after the first and 40-34 at halftime.
A 7-0 run to start the third quarter gave them an 11-point advantage, and from that point the Rams didn’t look back, sustaining an aggressive offensive attack coupled with tenacious defense en route to the big win.
Makayla Waleed recorded 19 points and six rebounds, Jakaiya Mack had 13 and five, and Maia Charles poured in 10 points and nine rebounds, catapulting WSSU to a 22-point defeat of the Big Blue.
Jasmine Jenkins led the Big Blue with 13 points and six rebounds while Michelle McGee netted 11 points.
WSSU won the rebounding battle, 47-35, while forcing 35 Big Blue turnovers. Next, the Rams will square off against Claflin in the semifinal round.
Bowie State, the No. 1-ranked Northern Division team, took the floor following WSSU’s win.
Maya Garner recorded 13 points and seven boards, senior guard Mia Smith added 11 points and five rebounds the Bulldogs outperformed their opponent in nearly every metric to cruise past Livingstone, 72-51, to advance in the tournament.
They will face the winner of Fayetteville State (the 2025 champs) and Virginia Union on Friday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals.
Conversely, the Bowie State men suffered a season-ending loss, 86-83, to Fayetteville State on Wednesday.
Men’s results
Johnson C. Smith 61, Elizabeth City State 60
In a closely contested matchup that saw eight ties and nine score changes, the result was decided by a go-ahead layup by Jared Davis off a feed from Orlando Hudson with a minute left in regulation.
The final minute of action consisted of missed jumpers, a missed free throw and a few timeouts. ECSU, after taking a 60-59 lead on a triple by Jaquantae Harris, couldn’t notch the scoring play needed to reclaim the lead in the final seconds.
Harris had a game-high 23 points and played 39 minutes while forward Donovan Flamer finished with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting to go with eight boards and four blocks. Flamer, a 6-foot-9 freshman, is an Owings Mills native.
A balanced offensive showing propelled the Golden Bulls to the narrow win as they advance to the quarterfinal round for a matchup against Virginia Union on Thursday evening at CFG Bank Arena in downtown Baltimore.
Between the two clubs, every statistical category was nearly even – from field goal percentage, to rebounds, to assists and turnovers, to bench points, to points in the paint. The deciding factor simply came down to timely play-making. Jamauri Bryant and Anthony Williams scored 14 each to lead the Golden Bulls, and Trey Pettigrew chipped in with 13 points.
Davis finished the game with 12 points and five boards.
Bluefield State 65, WSSU 55
Pierre Myles scored 14, Anthony Davenport had 12 points and six rebounds before fouling out and Sila Tako pitched in with 11 points and seven boards to lead the Big Blue to a double-digit win over Winston-Salem State to open CIAA Tournament play on Wednesday afternoon.
Aside from building a 36-22 cushion by halftime, Bluefield State’s effort on the glass was a noticeable difference down the stretch. The Big Blue pulled down 34 boards to WSSU’s 21.
The team also shot a respectable 12 of 13 from the charity stripe, staying fairly disciplined on both ends of the floor despite the Rams’ field goal shooting edge (46.8 percent to 41.7 percent).
About five minutes into the matchup, WSSU led 6-5 on a 3-pointer by Khyelle Boykin. The Big Blue responded with an 18-3 scoring run before taking a 14-point lead at the break.
The Rams fought back, trimming a 16-point deficit to seven points with about two minutes left on the game clock. However, Bluefield State went on to score a layup, a pair of free throws and a fast break dunk – all while holding WSSU to a field goal in the final 100 seconds – to secure the win.
WSSU’s Tyre Boykin led all scorers with 15 points and Lance Gill added 13 as the Rams’ season concludes. Bluefield State advanced to the quarterfinal against Claflin, narrowly defeating the Panthers, 70-68, on Thursday afternoon.
The Big Blue return to action in a semifinal matchup against defending champion Virginia State scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m.