The Fayetteville State Broncos’ magical women’s basketball team has completed the mission of capturing the CIAA championship following a 64-59 win over the Elizabeth City State Vikings.
Keayana McLaughlin was the top performer in the championship, scoring 17 points on 70% shooting from the field while also recording two steals.
Broncos’ guard Aniylah Bryant was named the Tournament MVP after averaging 17.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.0 steals on her road to the championship.
Coming off a game in which she shot a perfect 11-of-11 from the field, points were hard to come by for Bryant, who struggled against Elizabeth City State’s defensive pressure.
She finished with 12 points on 3-of-16 shooting, knocking down some crucial free throws and providing contributions in other areas. She grabbed five rebounds and got a key steal down the stretch.
Bryant was one of three Broncos to finish with 12 points, along with Talia Trotter and Nyah Wilkins, the latter of whom added nine rebounds and three steals.
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Alanis Hill was Elizabeth City State’s top scorer with 16 points, knocking down a pair of three-point baskets.
Rashauna Grant, however, was Elizabeth City State’s engine to produce a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double.
With both teams fighting through nerves, Grant set herself apart by dominating on the boards. She grabbed seven total rebounds, including six offensive rebounds in the first quarter.
Simmons also played a key role in giving her team a spark off the bench, hitting two threes to give her team a 17-13 advantage at the end of the first.
Fayetteville State settled into the game in the second quarter, outscoring ECSU 15-7 in the period to go into halftime with a 28-24 lead.
Simmons, a transfer from Fayetteville State, talked about how emotions played a role in this game.
“Me personally, I transferred from [Fayetteville State], so my emotions were very high. I feel like when I first came out; I was already kind of settled because I was ready for whatever was coming toward me. There was one play when I stepped out; my emotions got the best of me, but I did lock back in. So I would say emotions were kind of everywhere today.”
The third quarter mirrored the first for the Vikings as they got into a rhythm from deep, contributing to them building a lead. They hit three from three-point range in the period, briefly taking the lead before the Broncos ended the quarter with a 44-43 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Elizabeth City State began to take over, using good ball movement to create easy looks in the lane, briefly taking the lead.
Fayetteville State once again had an answer, forcing some key stops and taking advantage of missed free throws by the Vikings to secure the victory.
The Broncos are CIAA champions for the first time since 2020. That year, the Broncos were unable to participate in the National Tournament due to it being shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brown talked about the prospect of his team being selected to host its tournament region due to its stellar overall record.
“A lot of teams that we played are now regionally ranked nationally, and we beat them. So we have a strong strength of schedule,” he said. “We have played top-ranked teams, and I hope the [selection] committee looks into that so we can possibly host a region.
“We went 27-2 this year. We lost down in Lander, and they’re top eight in their region on a buzzer-beater and we lost at Johnson C. Smith when the whole team had the flu for the most part. We hope that they take that stuff into account because, of course, we always plan to go undefeated this whole year, but it was just unfortunate circumstances. I hope they look into our strength of schedule, especially our first nine games that we played. They were tough games, and all away games at that.”
