Lady Rams Pull Out 66-58 Win At Savannah State
Dominant first half, clutch second half keys to WSSU win
Trevin Q. Goodwin
1/20/07

Savannah, GA – The streak is over as the Winston-Salem State Lady Rams (5-17) scored a 66-58 win over the Savannah State Lady Tigers, Saturday afternoon. It was a huge first half effort that sparked the WSSU win as the Lady Rams outscored the Tigers 36-24 in the first half and fought off a furious second half comeback effort to take the win.

One of the team’s better efforts of the season keyed the win as the team forced 28 Savannah State turnovers and took 24 more shot than the home team to pull out the win. Three Lady Rams reached double-digit scoring in the contest with sophomore forward Lavontay Johnson’s 13 points leading the way. Johnson also added seven rebounds and one blocked shot. Seniors Shalonda Carter and Latoya Armstrong added 11 points each as well. Armstrong also recorded three key steals that helped pull out the win for the Lady Rams.

The Lady Rams dominated the Lady Tigers on defense in the first half forcing 17 SSU first half turnovers and allowing just 26 SSU shots for the half. The defense turned out to be the key to the half with the Lady Rams only trailing just once in the first half. The half began with strong defensive play on both ends as the two teams combined for just one field goal and a combined two blocked shots and three steals in the first four minutes of play. Senior guard Latoya Armstrong scored the first points of the game after about two minutes into the game, but SSU tied the game once again on a lay-up on the inside two minutes later. The Lady Rams did manage a bit of a run outscoring SSU 12-2 and taking a 12-6 lead. Savannah State would battle back with a run of its own scoring five unanswered points and cutting the WSSU lead to just one point, 12-11 with 11:40 left in the first half. It was then that Johnson would take over the game hitting a pair of three-pointers and sparking an 11-0 Lady Ram run and put the team ahead 26-15 with just over seven minutes left in the first half.

The Lady Rams hit the brakes a bit down the stretch of the half, but stayed on top 29-19 on a three-pointer by Armstrong with just under four minutes left in the half. The team continued to roll in the final minutes taking a 36-24 lead into the locker room at halftime. The 36-point effort was the team’s highest first half point total for the first half of any game this season.

Savannah State put up a fight early going on an early 7-2 run that cut the WSSU lead to just seven points, 38-31 with 16:10 left in the game. However, the Lady Rams would stay on top as an Armstrong three-pointer with just under 13 minutes left in the game kept the team on top, 43-35. Savannah State fought their way back into the game as a lay-up with just over 10 minutes left in the game left the Lady Rams ahead, 45-41 with 10:04 left in the game. One more SSU basket would make the game a lot more interesting down the stretch of the half.

The Lady Rams’ defense would crack once more with SSU tying the game 45-45 with 7:59 left in the game.  Senior center Shalonda Carter would sore back-to-back lay-ups to keep the Lady Rams in the game, but would see Savannah State answer each basket to keep the game tied, 51-51 with 5:32 left in the game. However, a Savannah State three-pointer a minute later kept the home team in the lead, 54-52 with just under four minutes left. Carter would get a key steal and lay-up that tied the game once again and gave the Lady Rams a chance to win the game.  Freshman guard Ja’Pel Sumpter would hit a key shot of her own putting the Lady Rams on top, 56-54 with three minutes left to play.

The final two minutes were filled with action as the Lady Rams would keep the two-point cushion with Savannah State missing a pair of free throws that could have tied the game. Sophomore guard Keshia Worthy and senior guard Kadina Baldwin would seal the game scoring three unanswered lay-ups that sealed the game 64-58 with thirty seconds left in the game.