CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Shaw University Lady Bears are on their way back to the CIAA Championship after cruising past Elizabeth City State 76-61 in the semifinals of the CIAA Tournament on Friday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Arena.

The Lady Bears used a 34-12 scoring run in the final 14 minutes of the second half to pull away from the Lady Vikings and advance to their third straight CIAA Championship. The Lady Bears, the No. 2 seed in the Southern Division, will play Fayetteville State, the No. 1 seed from the Southern Division, in the title game at 5 p.m. Saturday.

The Lady Bears, who improve to 24-4 on the season, were led by four players in double figures, three of whom recorded double-doubles. Crystal Harris led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Isayra Diaz and Taylor Dalrymple scored 15 points apiece. Dalrymple snagged down 10 rebounds while Crystal Wilson finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the victory. 

"It was the type of game that we expected," said Shaw head coach Jacques Curtis. "Elizabeth City was one of the better teams in the conference so we expected the type of game that we had today. We just feel blessed that we came out victorious."

The Lady Bears trailed 49-42 at the 14:22 mark of the second half before they regained the lead thanks to a 17-4 run over the next seven minutes that gave them a 59-53 edge. A three-pointer by Diaz with 6:59 on the clock helped Shaw build the six-point lead, a lead that they would never relinquish.

"We have that tendency now to buckle down in the end when we need to," said Curtis. "We can make that one run at the end of the game. We've been battle tested in the first two games of the tournament and we know now that we have what it takes to put teams away when we have to."

The Lady Vikings, the No. 1 seed in the Northern Division, end their regular season with a 24-4 overall record. They were led by Shatara Jackson with 14 points. DaShera Boone added 12 points while Shawnte Taylor contributed 11 in the loss.

"It was a hard fought game tonight and my kids played it to the very end," said Elizabeth City State head coach Alico Dunk. "Shaw was very deserving of the win. They dominated the glass and they made free throws. At this time of the year, it comes down to limiting your turnovers, rebounding the basketball and knocking down your free throws and they did a good job at that." 

The Lady Bears pulled down 49 rebounds compared to 33 for Elizabeth City State. Shaw forced the Lady Vikings to turn the ball over 15 times. The Lady Bears drained 21-of-32 from the charity stripe for 65.6 percent while the Lady Vikings were just 6-of-8 from the line for 75 percent.

The Lady Bears got off to a fast start in the first two and a half minutes of the game, racing out to an eight-point lead. Crystal Gordon's jumper with seven seconds on the shot clock gave the Lady Bears the 8-0 cushion with 17:29 remaining in the first period.

Elizabeth City State responded with a 16-7 run to build a 16-15 lead capped off with a layup from Jackson at the 12:07 mark.

The Lady Bears answered with a 9-3 run to take the 24-19 advantage, thanks to a deep three-pointer from Chelsey Pinkstaff with 9:10 remaining in the frame.

The Lady Vikings retaliated with a 9-4 run to tie the contest at 28 after a layup from De'Rya Wylie at the 4:55 mark. On the other end, Diaz buried a jumper 25 seconds later to give the Lady Bears a 30-28 lead. 

The Lady Vikings went on another 7-0 run to build a five-point edge. With 3:02 remaining in the period, Dashera Boone buried a three-pointer to give her team a 35-30 lead.

The Lady Bears closed out the first half on a 5-0 run. A bucket by Harris with nine seconds left tied the game at 35 apiece, which was the score at the half.

Diaz buried a three-pointer to open the second half, extending Shaw's scoring run to 8-0. Her trey, which came from the left corner, gave her squad a 38-35 lead.

The Lady Vikings answered with a 14-4 run to build a 49-42 lead after a three-pointer from the top of the key by Taylor with 14:22 left on the clock.

The Lady Bears regained the lead over the next seven minutes after going on a 17-4 run to go up 59-53. A three-pointer by Diaz from the right corner gave her squad the six-point edge with 6:59 remaining in the contest.

After Jasmine Whitehurst buried two free throws to make it a four-point deficit for the Lady Vikings, the Lady Bears pushed their lead back to six when Harris hit a turnaround layup on the other end.

The Lady Bears forced the Lady Vikings to turn the ball over on their end, setting up a Diaz layup, which came off a crisp pass from Wilson. The bucket pushed their lead to eight at 63-55 with 5:42 left in the game. 

After the Lady Vikings made it a six-point game once again thanks to a jumper from Whitehurst, Dalrymple and Wilson scored the next four points for the Lady Bears to push their lead to 10 at 67-57. A turnover by Elizabeth City State led to a Wilson layup with 3:22 left, which made it a 12-point margin for Shaw.

Two free throws by Wilson and two more from Dalrymple extended Shaw's lead to 16 at 73-57 with 1:18 left. The Lady Vikings ended a four-minute scoring drought when Boone converted a layup to make it 73-59.

Another free throw by Diaz prompted a late bucket from Whitehurst, which made it a 13-point game with 29 ticks left in the contest. Another pair of free throws from Diaz with nine seconds left made it a 15-point contest for the final points of the game.

The Lady Bears, who will be looking to win their eighth CIAA Championship in the last 11 years, split their two regular season matchups with the Lady Broncos. Fayetteville State won the first meeting of the season at Shaw, 66-64. The Lady Bears returned the favor on Feb. 20 when they won at Fayetteville State 75-65.

"It's all about size," said Curtis. "It's going to be bigs going against bigs. They have a lot of size and we have a lot of size. We know it's going to be a battle between two good teams. Crystal (Harris) and Izzy came up big for us today. They are the only two players on my team that have been here before. This is a new experience for everyone else. We just want to enjoy the moment that we're in right now and then we want to go out there and try and win the CIAA."

article by Ryan Sarda