RALEIGH, NC – The Winston-Salem State Rams (7-9, 3-4 CIAA) gave everything they had, but the team could find no answers in a 91-64 road loss to the Shaw Lady Bears (14-5, 6-1 CIAA), Wednesday evening. There was no shortage of effort from the Rams, but foul troubles, some tough Lady Bears defense and a smoking hot Shaw offense proved to be too much for the Rams to overcome in the loss.

Though the Rams had a solid effort and shot the ball effectively, there were quite a few factors that hampered the team in the loss. For the game, the Rams shot a solid 38.9% from the floor, but were outgunned by a Shaw team that shot 58.0% from the floor in the game. WSSU sophomore forward Briana Arnold led the way for the Rams with 11 points and seven rebounds, but she was hampered by foul troubles as she was held to just 23 minutes of play after picking up three first half fouls. She was one seven WSSU players to record at least three fouls in the game. As a team, the Rams totaled 31 fouls in the contest. All of the news was not bad for the Rams as junior forward Jeri Craine scored a career-high 11 points in the game.

The Rams came out with a strong first quarter effort, but as the quarter continued and the fouls piled up, things got tougher as the team fell behind, 16-24. The Rams opened the game with back-to-back baskets to jump ahead 4-0, but Shaw soon answered and tied the game with back-to-back scores of their own. From there, the Rams and the Lady Bears continued to trade baskets and played to a 13-13 tie with 3:52 left to play. Unfortunately, the Rams fell victim to a late run by the Lady Bears as the team was outscored 11-3 in the final four minutes of the quarter. In the final minutes, three free throws from Arnold were all that the Rams could muster and the team ended the quarter trailing, 24-16.

The second quarter was the most competitive quarter of the game as the Rams. The Rams opened the quarter on fire as three straight baskets by the Rams opened the quarter and pulled the Rams to within two points, 22-24 with 8:25 left in the half. However, Shaw answered the WSSU run with three straight points of their own. The Rams had another run in them as a lay-up from junior guard Taelor Mandeville pulled the Rams to within four points, 29-33 with 4:29 left in the half. Unfortunately, the WSSU offensive struggles would kick in there as a lay-up from junior forward Sha'Quira Palmer at the 2:19 mark was the last score of the half for the Rams as Shaw went on to leave the Rams trailing, 31-41 at halftime.

After a solid first half effort, the second half proved to be a much different story for the Rams. The WSSU troubles began midway through the quarter as a three-pointer from senior guard Jazmyn Saunders was the sole WSSU score during a two-minute span as Shaw pushed its lead to 15 points. A jumper from junior forward Jasmine Carter ended the drought for the Rams, but the team was left trailing, 47-62 with 2:55 left in the quarter. From there, the Rams kept their deficit at 16 points and trailed 65-49 at the end of the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Rams were outscored 26-15 as the Lady Bears pulled away. The Rams totaled just one field goal for the first four minutes of the quarter. When sophomore center Kandace Tate hit a jumper at the 9:00 minute mark, the Rams trailed the Lady Bears, 51-67, but a Tate free throw was all that the Rams could muster until the 5:37 mark when a jumper from redshirt-sophomore forward Jatzmin Johnson left the Rams trailing, 54-79 and ended a 12-3 run by the Lady Bears. During the drought, the Rams missed three jumpers and committed a pair of turnovers on five possessions and allowed Shaw scores on five of their possessions. The Rams continued to push, but the Lady Bears answered with some quality offense of their own, outscoring WSSU 12-7 in the final five minutes of the game and sealed the 91-64 WSSU loss.

The loss drops the Rams to 7-9 overall, 3-4 in CIAA play, and more importantly, 1-1 in CIAA Southern Division play. The Rams will return to action this weekend when the team hosts the Fayetteville State Lady Broncos. For more information on Rams women's basketball, contact the WSSU Office of Athletic Media Relations at (336) 750-2143 or log on to www.WSSURams.com.