Jan. 19, 2008

Final Stats

Johnson C. Smith University came home after a five-game road swing to entertain the visiting Lady Tigers of Saint Paul's College. The road was not too nice to the gold and blue as they posted a 2-3 record and dropped their first conference game to Bowie State on Thursday night. Tonight was a different story as JCSU extended their win streak in Brayboy gym to four games with a 66-59 win over the Lady Tigers. The win improves JCSU to 10-5 and 6-1 in the conference.

Saint Paul's scored the first basket but JCSU put together a 10-0 run followed by a 12-2 run to take a 22-4 lead with 10:04 remaining in the first stanza. Smith would never let the lead get below. By the time the half was 39-17.

Kyria Buford (Charlotte, N.C.) scored 17 of her 22 total points in the first 20 minutes of play. JCSU turned 20 Saint Paul's turnovers into 29 points. They also outscored them in the paint 29-6, throughout the first half.

SPC head coach Serena King-Coleman must have given a stern half-time speech because the Lady Tigers came out firing going on a 9-2 run over the course of five minutes to start the half. JCSU did not hit their first field goal until the 14:02 mark on a fade-away jumper by Miryame Diouf (Powder Springs, Ga.).

The momentum was definitely in the Lady Tigers corner as they saw a 22-point half-time deficit cut down to 4. Unfortunately for SPC, JCSU had built up a large enough lead to sustain them to the 7 point victory.

Buford was the leading scorer with 22 total points. She also had six rebounds, and five assists. Janai Jackson (Bowie, Md.) came alive in the second half connecting on 4-of-7 shots and all of this with four fouls. She ended the contest with 11 points. Demetria Bell (Indianapolis, Ind.) had six points but more importantly 10 rebounds.

Saint Paul's, which dropped to 6-7 overall, 1-5 in the CIAA was led by Katrina Wright's 21 points and four rebounds. Tatiana Ellis was the closest to Wright's offensive efforts with 12 points.

JCSU moves on to play St. Augustine's College on Tuesday, January 22, 2008. Game time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C. Saint Paul's will travel to Raleigh, N.C. to take on the Lady Bears of Shaw University, also on Tuesday.