Sumter, SC-- The Claflin University Pantherettes will travel
to the NAIA National Women’s Basketball Tournament March
17-23 in Jackson, TN. The Pantherettes, who defeated Voorhees
College Lady Tigers for the Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference (EIAC) Tournament Championship, will represent the NAIA Region XIV
in the NAIA Tournament. Claflin will take on the 2003 national champions, Southern
Nazarene University, in the opening round of the tournament March 17 at 5:45CST.
Miriam Walker-Samuels
They say history repeats itself. Well, the match-up between the Claflin University
Patherettes, Orangeburg, SC, and the Southern Nazarene University Crimson Strom,
Bethany, OK, is a flashback of Coach Miriam Samuel’s junior year as a
Claflin College Pantherette. In 1989, Claflin University played Southern Nazarene
University
for the NAIA national title in Kansas City, KS. The Crimson Strom edged the
Pantherettes 98-96, ending the Patherettes’ 35-game winning streak. In
that game, Miriam Walker had 49 points and 7 assists (18-40 FG, 1-2 3-pts.
and 12-12 FT). The Crimson Strom (31-3) is the all-time winningest program
in NAIA Women’s Basketball history.
Coach Samuels has continued to lead the Pantherettes in the same rich tradition
of her predecessor, the late Coach Nelson Brownlee. In only her third year
as head coach, she has taken the Patherettes to two consecutive national tournaments.
When asked whether she was having any flashback to that 1989 championship game,
Coach Samuels said: “I am not having any flashback of that championship
game. I told my team that I want you to do to them what they did to me in 1989.
If we beat them by two points, I will be happy with our first round results.
A team the caliber of Southern Nazarene, you can only let them have one shoot.
Defense and heart are the two things it will take to win the game.” Anyone
who knows Coach Samuels, knows that she is not taking her team to Jackson for
one game; she plans to win it all.
For more information, check out the EIAC web site at www.eiacsports.com.
