BALTIMORE — As the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) honored the 50th anniversary of its women’s championship basketball tournament on Saturday, Fayetteville State University added its name to an extensive legacy.
The Broncos (21-7, 13-3 CIAA) defeated the Virginia State University Trojans (26-3, 14-2 CIAA) 64-56 at CFG Arena to clinch back-to-back CIAA tournament titles and earn the program’s sixth conference championship.
“God is great. Going back to back is tough. It’s tough to win the tournament,” Fayetteville State head coach Tyreece Brown said. “Just to see this team’s resilience from day one … this isn’t surprising to us, but all the seniors get to go out on top. Even though we shoot for the [NCAA Division II] national championship, this is a great thing with the 50th year [anniversary] for them to go back to back.”
After a tight back-and-forth first quarter, Fayetteville State’s sharp shooting allowed the team to pull away in the second quarter. The Broncos dominated from beyond the arc, finishing the game shooting 8-for-25 from 3-point range compared with Virginia State’s 2-for-14.
“We’ve been doing that all year. Normally, [we] come out [in] first quarter, it’s jab, jab, jab. Second quarter, second half, we really pick it up,” Brown said. “We’d be out there processing, seeing what’s going on, but we always want to play our game. We work hard on that all year. They put in a lot of work on the court to [win] game-like situations [and] to make those type of shots under pressure.”
Senior guard Keayna McLaughlin earned tournament MVP honors and contributed 15 points and eight rebounds. Junior forward Talia Trotter added 15 points, and sophomore guard KaNyah O’Neal added nine points.
Fayetteville State is the first women’s basketball program to win back-to-back CIAA tournament championships since Virginia Union University did so in 2018 and 2019. The Broncos have earned the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division II tournament and now await their first-round matchup.
Last season, Fayetteville State advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA DII tournament before falling to No. 1 seed Gannon University, raising the Broncos’ expectations for this year’s tournament.
“It’s nothing but a blessing. We take nothing for granted. This team is a team full of dogs,” said forward Morgan Graham, a senior who was a part of last season’s tournament run. “We come hard, we play hard. And like Coach said, this is the first mile to the stepping stone. We want to win the regional [title] and win the natty, so we got two more championships to fight for.”
Memorable moments
Singer’s death stuns the crowd: During a break in the women’s championship game, fans mourned the death of neo-soul singer Angie Stone. The singer, who was scheduled to perform during halftime of the men’s championship game, died in a car accident Saturday morning en route to the tournament. The announcement of her passing elicited gasps from the crowd, and CIAA Chaplain Pastor Jerome Barber led a moment of silence in her honor.
Three-pointers give Broncos an edge: McLaughlin and sophomore guard Alivia Evans connected on back-to-back three-pointers to extend Fayetteville State’s first-half lead. In the second quarter, the Broncos shot 6-for-11 from beyond the arc and outscored Virginia State 21-9, giving them a 15-point lead going into the half.
Comeback stirs hope: Virginia State senior guard Anii Harris completed a three-point play to aid the Trojans’ second-half comeback effort. VSU outscored Fayetteville State 22-19 in the third quarter.
All-women crew makes the calls: The officiating crew for the women’s championship game was composed of three women: Danielle Jackson, Gabrielle Mortis and Paulette Franklin.
Virginia State men’s team edges out Bluefield State
After the Virginia State women’s basketball program lost its CIAA championship game, the men’s basketball team guaranteed VSU wouldn’t leave Baltimore empty-handed.
The Trojans (21-8, 13-3 CIAA) defeated Bluefield State (19-11, 10-6 CIAA) 71-64 in the conference tournament championship to clinch their first conference title since 2019. After years of trying to rebuild the winning culture that existed at Virginia State prior to the pandemic, head coach Lonnie Blow Jr. believes the championship win was important to the Virginia State community after a long season and the death of longtime athletic director Peggy Davis, who passed away in October 2024.
“We came into the tournament with some momentum,” Blow said. “So, man, I’m just so proud of the work they put in. Obviously, I pushed them hard all year long. But just sitting here right now [and] winning this championship is just extremely special … It’s for her [Davis] also. She was a big part of our university, always will be.”
Bluefield State and Virginia State split the regular season series 1-1, with both teams earning a victory by more than 10 points. Virginia State, the Northern Division champion, kept the contest close before pulling away late in the second half. Despite the single-digit margin of victory, Virginia State’s defense stifled Bluefield State, holding the team to 36.1% from the field and 16.7% from 3-point range. The Trojans finished the game shooting 40.9% from the field and 29.4% from beyond the arc. Virginia State also outrebounded Bluefield State 52-38.
“I thought we were really good defensively most of the night,” Blow said. “Now, they hit some tough shots, and they made some really big plays and we needed to come back. They took the lead from us, but I thought pretty much all night, we were pretty consistent on defense and just making them work.”
VSU junior guard Jacob Cooper was named the CIAA tournament MVP after tallying 16 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. Senior forward Jared White, a Maryland native, added 11 points and five rebounds for the Trojans.
Virginia State will have some rest before the NCAA Division II Tournament Selection show next Sunday, which will determine the team’s opponent. The CIAA tournament win guarantees the Trojans another NCAA tournament berth, their first since 2020.
“We got to get back home and take a day or so off and just kind of get ourselves back going again,” Blow said. “We’ll be back in the gym next week and just got to work on ourselves. You know we got to do the little things for the most part [and] tighten up on our closeout and stuff defensively.”
Memorable moments
Player of the Year beats buzzer: Bluefield State guard Jordan Hinds, the CIAA Player of the Year, hit a buzzer-beating shot to shrink the halftime deficit to one. The Trojans led 36-35 at the half.
Three is key: Trojans guard Clint Wright Jr. nailed a crucial three-pointer to extend Virginia State’s lead to 69-62 with less than three minutes remaining in the game.
Block City for the Trojans: A massive block by Virginia State center Davian Coleman ended Bluefield State’s comeback hopes and secured the victory for the Trojans.