It took 40 regulation minutes and nearly the full five minute overtime period but the Winston-Salem State Lady Rams’ winless streak ends at 16 games as sophomore forward Vontisha Woods’ career-high 24 points and 18 rebounds powered WSSU to a 69-67 overtime victory over Norfolk State on Monday evening at the Joel Coliseum Annex.
In a battle of two winless teams, the Lady Rams (1-16) were able to ride a career-high 24 points and a career-high 18 rebounds from Woods, 19 points from MaLisa Bumpus and 12 points from Keoshia Worthy as the trio accounted for 54 of WSSU’s 69 total points, or 78.2 percent of the offense, en route to snapping a 16-game winless streak as Winston-Salem State earned their first win of the season by keeping the Lady Spartans winless at 0-16 overall.
Following a pair of early lead swaps, the Lady Spartans would be the first team to jump out to a significant advantage as they pushed their lead to a game-high seven points with 9:51 remaining in the first half of play courtesy of a Tashawna Higgins free throw.
However, the Lady Rams closed the game’s first 20 minutes of play with a 14-2 run over the final 4:33 of the period as WSSU turned a seven-point deficit into a five-point advantage as Winston-Salem State headed into the locker room at halftime with a 36-31 lead.
Second half action saw Norfolk State retake a two point lead by starting the half on a 7-0 run before the two teams settled into a basket trading session that saw neither team lead by more than four points for the remainder of the half.
WSSU looked to be headed for their 17th loss of the season with only 27 seconds remaining in regulation as they trailed by four points, at 61-57 with limited time remaining.
MaLisa Bumpus, an 81 percent free throw shooter, forced an overtime session by connecting on four straight free-throws as the transfer from James Madison drilled back-to-back pairs of attempts from the charity stripe to earn WSSU an extra frame.
Overtime would prove to be no different as the two evenly matched teams traded field goals and free throws until Bumpus again took matters into her own hands, again from the free throw line.
With two seconds remaining, and with the game deadlocked at 67-67, Bumpus hit her ninth and 10th free throws of the contest, propelling the Lady Rams to the two-point victory in the process.
“All I was thinking was we needed those free-throws to drop” Bumpus commented post game.
An 81 percent free throw shooter, Bumpus, who has been WSSU’s most dynamic player since joining the team in January, was one of three Lady Rams to record double-digit point totals in the victory, WSSU’s first win since a season-ending victory over South Carolina State on March 6, 2008.
The win improves WSSU to 1-16 overall while the loss drops the Lady Spartans to 0-16 and increases their winless streak to 20 games. NSU has not won a contest since Feb. 25, 2008, coming, coincidentally, against the Lady Rams.
WSSU returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 31 from Tallahassee, Fla. as they face the Lady Rattlers of Florida A&M University from Gaither Gymnasium.