Lady Rams Cruise To Victory 71-57 Over St. Augustine's

The Winston-Salem State University Lady Rams traveled to Raleigh, NC on Tuesday evening to take on the Lady Falcons of St. Augustine's College in a heated CIAA grudge match. The Lady Rams brought with them their 5-6 overall record and their 2-1 CIAA record as they looked to improve to 6-6 and .500 on the season.

Led by Phinnie Matthews and Monique Kirkland who chipped in with fifteen points each, the Lady Rams were able to easily secure the victory over the host-team Lady Falcons, and earn their third straight CIAA league victory. The Lady Rams would establish themselves in the early-going of the first half, opening up a double-digit lead and never trailing in the contest the rest of the way.

The Lady Rams were able to easily overcome team leading scorer Lori Shelby's (16.4 ppg average) off-shooting evening to put together a total team effort to secure the win. In addition to Matthews' and Kirkland's fifteen point performances, the Lady Rams received help from Aletha Corpening who tallied 12 points on five of ten shooting from the floor.

The Lady Rams, a fundamentally sound basketball team, once again showed that basics win games as they shot an impressive 80% from the free-throw line, going 16 for 20 on the evening, improving their season percentage to an astounding 71% (188-267 on the season).

WSSU also got contributions from six other players en route to the easy 71-75 victory. With the win, the Lady Rams improve to 6-6 overall and 3-1 in the CIAA, as the Lady Falcons fall to 4-7 overall and 0-2 in the CIAA.

The Lady Rams return to action on Saturday at 5:30 pm as they play host to the Livingstone College Lady Blue Bears in the CE Gaines Center.

Commenting on his team's victory, WSSU Head Coach John Williams said the following:

"I guess the key to tonight's victory was our overall team defense, coupled with the fact that we seemed to shoot the ball better than we have been in the last few games. I think a big key for us is that we got another conference win, as we will look to carry that momentum into the game with Livingstone on Saturday, as the Lady Blue Bears will come into the Gaines Center hungry for a victory. However, we are just glad to get the win tonight, improve to 3-1 in the CIAA, and will be glad to get back on our home court this weekend."