Saturday, March 12, 2005

  Shaw Blisters the Nets During Regional Semifinal Win Over Wingate

          RALEIGH , NC – Shaw University tickled the twine to the tune of a convincing 105-74 victory over Wingate University during the semifinals of the 2005 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball South Atlantic Regional Championship inside Shaw’s packed C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium in Raleigh , NC .

Shaw, which improves to 31-1 to tie the school record for victories in a season, shot 60.7 percent (37-for-61) from the field, including 57.1 percent (12-for-21) from three-point range, and 73.1 percent from the foul line (19-for-26). The Lady Bears used their dazzling quickness to collect 13 steals on 16 Wingate turnovers.

            “In my opinion, we lost to the eventual national champion tonight,” said Wingate head coach Johnny Jacumin. “I do not have a team that can match Shaw’s foot-speed. I give Coach (Jacques) Curtis all the credit in the world. He has assembled a tremendous basketball team.

“We played at the level that won 21 ballgames for us this year, but it certainly was not on the level to play with Shaw tonight,” Jacumin added. “If you shoot 57 percent from three-point range you are going to kill people. We were lucky to stay on the floor with them.”

            Shaw had four Lady Bears to score double figures, topped by senior guard Kiarsha Curtis with a game-high 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field, including a perfect 3-for-3 from long range, and 2-for-3 from the charity stripe.

            “Anytime we start the game on fire, it’s going to be trouble,” said Curtis, the 2005 South Atlantic Region Player of the Year. “The last six or seven games we have been starting off slow and then have to bring ourselves back up. Tonight coach said he is tired of slow starts, so we went out and picked it up right from warm-ups.”

Shaw junior point guard Nastassia Boucicault scored 26 points with five assists, senior Joy Hairston added 14 points off the bench, and senior Bilisa Perkins had 13 points for the Lady Bears.

“I had to pick it up from yesterday’s game,” said Boucicault. “Yesterday I was kind of off, so I tried to pick it up for my team tonight. This game is one of my best since I have been at Shaw.”

            Wingate (21-11) was paced by junior center Veronica Taylor with 16 points and seven rebounds, while senior Ali Greiner chipped in 15 points for the Bulldogs.

“They came out ready to play and we came out ready to play,” said Shaw head coach Jacques Curtis. “I just think we wanted it a little bit more and overwhelmed them at different times during the game, and we’re glad to get a ‘W’.”

Shaw advances to the regional championship game on Monday (March 14) at 7 p.m. to play #4 Carson-Newman College .