COLUMBIA, S.C – 2020 was a challenging year for many reasons; however, one of the little-known hardships of 2020 was 78-28 loss last January by CIU women's basketball at the hands of the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs. The loss was the largest margin of defeat to an Appalachian Athletic Conference opponent in CIU women's basketball history. Seeking to avenge their loss, the Rams took on the Bulldogs Saturday, and 2020 was all but forgotten as CIU ironically scored 78 points on TWU to defeat their AAC foe 78-58. CIU wins their first game of 2021 and now moves to 6-7 overall and 4-5 in the conference eclipsing their conference win total from the 2019-2020 season.

First Half: CIU 35 TWU 25: It was a sluggish half for both teams as neither team scored for the first 4:42 of the game. TWU lead 8-7 until junior Jordin McQueen took the contact and nailed a 3-pointer while being fouled. McQueen could not complete the 4-point play, but CIU still led 10-7 at the end of the first quarter. Zion Neat and Queeneka Howard both came alive in the second quarter as each player scored seven points. CIU scored 25 points in the second quarter going 10-21 from the field as a team. Freshman Madison Ferrara capped off the first half, draining a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Rams a 35-25 advantage going into halftime.

Second Half: CIU 78 TWU 58: The Rams started the third quarter on a mini 5-0 run behind a 3-pointer from McQueen and a basket inside from Jordan Sprueill to take a 15-point 40-25 lead. Behind Neat and McQueen, the Rams stayed ahead 59-46 at the end of three. The Bulldogs cut the deficit to just 66-58 with 5:18 remaining in the fourth quarter, but from then on Coach Danielle Fleming's squad would lockdown TWU defensively. The Bulldogs would not score again for the rest of the game as CIU finished the contest on a 12-0 run to dispatch TWU, 78-58.

Game Notes:

• Danielle Fleming continues to put the AAC on notice in her first year at the helm of CIU women's basketball as the win over TWU was the Ram's first all-time victory over the Bulldog program.
• Zion Neat contributed to her AAC Freshman of the Year case as the freshman was superb with 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks while shooting 58% from the field
•  Jordin McQueen was once again impressive with 20 points on 6-11 shooting while snagging three steals.
• Both Queeneka Howard and Madison Ferrara were crucial off the bench as Howard had 10 points going 2-2 from the 3-point range, while Ferrara had eight points and two steals.
• Jordan Sprueill was reliable as always, doing what she does best with eight rebounds and nine points.
• With today's win, CIU has reached their season-high in AAC wins in their three-year history with the conference.

What Coach Danielle Fleming is saying:

"It was a great win today. When you come back from a long break it's a toss-up of how both teams will play and how the game will go. We had a good week of practice and played team ball today. Great way to start off 2021."

Up Next:
CIU will travel to Bluefield, Va. on January 5th  to challenge Bluefield College at 5 PM.