The game itself reflected everything first-year head coach Tierra Terry has instilled since arriving in Winston-Salem.<\/a> WSSU played with poise against pressure, physicality in the paint, and discipline when Bluefield State tried to speed the tempo.<\/p>\n\u201cThis conference is very tough,\u201d Terry said afterward. \u201cEverybody is a good opponent. We felt their presence the entire game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Led by Maia Charles\u2019\u00a030-point, 11-rebound, seven-block\u00a0performance, WSSU gradually imposed its will. The Rams shot over\u00a055 percent from the field, controlled the glass, and turned defense into offense repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Charles\u2019 night carried extra meaning. She had just been named CIAA Player of the Week \u2014 the program\u2019s first such honor of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe challenged her,\u201d Terry said. \u201cTo put up those numbers in conference play, right after that? That\u2019s impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Terry\u2019s message, as always, extended beyond one player or one game.<\/p>\n
![\"Maia](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MaiaCharlesjumper.jpg\")
Maia Charles had a monster game for WSSU with 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. (Steven J. Gaither\/HBCU Gameday)WSSU ties a record<\/p>\n
The Rams are now\u00a012\u20131 overall and 3\u20130 in the CIAA, matching the longest winning streak in program history. For a women\u2019s program that has\u00a0never\u00a0won a CIAA championship, that matters.<\/p>\n
Yet Terry refuses to let the streak become a distraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are still things we have to clean up,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re just plugging away game by game.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mentality is why this team feels different. It defends relentlessly. It shares the ball. It competes like a group that understands the margin for error in HBCU basketball is thin \u2014 and earned.<\/p>\n
The Moment That Made the Night<\/p>\n
After the win, the team gathered in the post-game lounge. The energy was still buzzing, but nothing prepared them for what came next.<\/p>\n
Chancellor\u00a0Bonita Brown, the first permanent woman chancellor at WSSU,\u00a0walked in.<\/p>\n
What followed wasn\u2019t a formal speech. It was joy. Surprise. Emotion. <\/p>\n
Then came the reveal.<\/p>\n
Brown and interim athletic director\u00a0Eric Burns\u00a0made a promise to the team after its season-opening loss to NC A&T: if the team reached\u00a010\u20131\u00a0before the break, they would be rewarded with new sneakers \u2014 the Under Armour jogger-style shoes the players wanted.<\/p>\n
![\"WSSUwomenlookatShoes\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WSSUwomenlookatShoes.jpg\")
WSSU women react to new shoes coming their way. (Steven J. Gaither\/HBCU Gameday)<\/p>\n
They delivered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey went 10-1,\u201d Burns said. \u201cSo we delivered on the promise. We\u2019re still on a roll.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room erupted. Players screamed, danced, and hugged. One joked she\u2019d wear the shoes every day. It wasn\u2019t about footwear. It was about recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait to see y\u2019all in y\u2019all shoes,\u201d Brown said as laughter and screams filled the room. \u201cKeep up the good work. Enjoy yourselves. We\u2019re all out there rooting for you \u2014 and we love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before she left out of the room, she held up a finger and made sure the team heard her. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo. 13! No. 13 on the way.\u201d <\/p>\n
Why This Matters in HBCU Basketball<\/p>\n
Programs often talk about \u201cbuy-in.\u201d This was buy-in made visible. <\/p>\n
Administrative leadership showing up. Keeping a promise. Celebrating women\u2019s basketball\u00a0in the moment, not after a championship banner is already hanging. New shoes at Power Four institutions are every-day occurrences. As an HBCU at the Division II level, that\u2019s not the case. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou know people see their hard work,\u201d Terry said later. \u201cThat meant a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
For WSSU, this wasn\u2019t just a reward. It was a statement:\u00a0this matters.<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s program at WSSU has long carried national prestige. The women\u2019s program has carried potential \u2014 and patience. Under Terry, that patience is finally paying dividends.<\/p>\n
A Season That Feels Different<\/p>\n
Even without students fully back on campus, the crowd inside the Gaines Center was strong. The energy felt real. Terry believes it\u2019s only the beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the students come back, it brings an even bigger atmosphere,\u201d she said. \u201cThe engagement takes us up another notch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twelve wins. A tied record. A locker room full of laughter, music, and new shoes.<\/p>\n
This is no longer just a good run. It\u2019s one of the defining stories of the\u00a0HBCU\u00a0basketball season so far.<\/p>\n
And for\u00a0WSSU, it feels like something that has been building for years \u2014 finally arriving, together, all at once.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HBCU basketball has produced few better stories this season than the rise of WSSU women\u2019s basketball, and Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,2677,228,1950,8515],"class_list":["post-524494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-ciaa","tag-featured","tag-hbcu-sports","tag-wssu"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115858590097264876","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"HBCU,](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WSSUTierraTerry12.jpg\")
Tierra Terry and her staff have nearly doubled WSSU\u2019s wins from the previous season. (Steven J. Gaither\/HBCU Gameday)A Team That Earned Every Bit of This<\/p>\n