ETTRICK, VA- First year coach Nadine Domond and her staff prepares for their first CIAA Basketball Tournament as they look to take down Livingstone College to move to the Quarterfinals.
 

Date	Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Time	4:30 p.m.
Live Stream	ESPN+
Live Stats	Live Stats
Location	Baltimore, MD (CFG Bank Arena)
Twitter	@VSUsports
Instagram	@vsutrojans_1882
Facebook	Virginia State University Athletics

Series History
The VSU Trojans are leads 14-8 in matchups dating back to 2009. The teams met earlier this season on January 8, where VSU earned to victory 60-56.

Self-Scout
The Trojans ended 11-15 (7-8 CIAA) which gives them the No.7 seed in the 2023 CIAA Basketball Tournament. The squad currently shoots 35.9% from the field and is averaging 59.1 points per contest. They are ranked third in the conference in free throw percentage knocking down 69.6% of their shots from the foul line. They also rank third in steals per game with 10.08. They will look to shoot with a little more consistency from deep knocking down just 26.9% of their shots from beyond the arc.

Defensively, the squad gives up 59.6 points per game allowing opponents to shoot just 35.2% from the field (3^rd in CIAA) and 26.1 from the three-point line (2^nd in CIAA). They force 20.9 turnovers per contest and average 18.9 points off turnovers.

2023 All-CIAA Backcourt selection, Sommer Blakemore is the CIAA's 2023 assist champion leading the conference with an even 100 assists with a 1.1 assist/turnover ratio which ties her for third in the conference. She leads the team with 14.8 points per contest (5th in CIAA) shooting 39.0% from the field (4th in the CIAA). The 5-6 guard also got in on crashing the boards as well 118 total rebounds ranked her 20th in the CIAA. Though Blakemore saw her role expand, she is still a sharpshooter at heart as she ranked second on the team and 11th in the conference with 31 made three-pointers. She also ended with a team-high 78.2% free throw percentage (4th in CIAA). Blakemore ended near the top of the conference in steal as 58 steals ranked her fifth in the conference. Nobody in the conference saw the court more than Blakemore as she leads the conference with ridiculous 34.8 minutes per contest. Kalyn Ervin leads the team ties for fourth in the conference with 61 steals this season as the sharpshooter also leads the team and ranks eighth in the conference with 39 made three-pointers. Ervin averages 11.3 points per contest. Raija Todd averages 102 points per game after recently exploding with a career-high 27 points against ECSU. Kylah Webb is the team leading rebounder averaging 5.8 per game. She is fresh off two straight double-doubles and will look to make it three in the upcoming opening round matchup.

Scouting the Livingstone Blue Bears
Livingstone ended their season 11-17 (5-11 CIAA) which gave them a No.11 seed. The Blue Bears are average 64.3 points per game while allowing 65.5. Collectively, they are shooting 38.5% from the field, 29.4% from three-point range and 64.3% from the foul line. LC averages 32.5 rebounds and 10.7 assists per game. They also are averaging 15.9 turnovers per game while allowing opponents to score 14.8 points off turnovers. They have averaged 8.4 steals and 1.1 blocks on the season. Jamiah Lane leads the Blue Bears in scoring, averaging 9.3 points, while Alexis Lake controls their boards with 4.7 rebounds per game. Andresia Alexander leads the team in assists (55) and steals (43).