And here’s what history looked like just a few minutes earlier.
With the music pulsing from the PA system, the players had line danced among the green and gold balloons scattered across the gleaming gym floor.
In the middle of the group was Nia McCormick – the 5-foot-5 shooting guard whose 12.7 points per game average leads the Bulldogs in scoring – wearing a big smile and a gold shirt emblazoned across the front with:
“The blacker the school, the sweeter the education.”
And this night could not have been much sweeter.
The school hosted a viewing party as the NAIA announced the 32-team bracket for its Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship held at the at Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
Wilberforce is making its first appearance in the tournament and the Bulldogs didn’t have to wait long to see their name in the bracket.
Concordia University of Seward, Nebraska – 30-3 this season, last year’s national runner-up, a school making its 18th trip to the tournament in the 28 years of the event – was announced as the overall No. 1 seed.
Wilberforce – whose 14-12 record was the most modest in the field – ended up a No. 8 seed and Concordia’s first round opponent in a game that tips off Wednesday at 1 p.m.
When the pairing was announced, a few players gasped with delight and several took photos of the big screen bracket, proof that Wilberforce was on the national stage.
“There’s just a radiance all around the campus because of this,” said William Woodson, the school’s Senior VP of Business and Finance. “Everyone is excited. “
Assistant coach Lionel Garrett – the former Fairview High in Dayton and Southern University star who was drafted by the San Diego Clippers, toured the word with the Harlem Globetrotters and had a long playing and coaching career after – mentioned the “euphoria” that had settled over the team, as well.
Post player Mustafa Notter, who transferred from Central State across the street, might have put it best:
“There is just a better vibe. The community has brought us in more, were getting talked about more and there’s just some positive energy.”
And that’s something Wilberforce needs … and deserves.
The HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) with just under 500 students has dealt with weighty problems for several years now.
Last July it was placed on accreditation probation by the Higher Learning Commission which cited “a non-compliance to academic standards, a high level of institutional debt ($30 million) and lingering issues with internal controls.”
Two years ago the school – in an effort to raise money – put the gym and the rest of the Alumni Complex up for sale, with hopes of finding a buyer who would then let the school rent the facility back when it was needed.
It’s an inglorious situation for one of the most treasured universities not just in the Miami Valley, but the nation.
Opened in 1856, Wilberforce was the first college in the nation owned and operated by African Americans and includes many celebrated graduates.
“The school is working really, really hard now to get everything in order,” Garrett said. “That’s why anything we can to do help lift spirits is really cool.”
Woodson agreed: “This really talks toward the renaissance we’re trying to have here.
“And it’s a great opportunity for the young ladies, one they deserve. The played really hard all year and they’ve been exemplary students, as well.
Two perfect examples of that are Alexandra and Alexis Shealey, twin sisters and junior guards from Middletown High School.
Alexandra starts and Alexis comes off the bench. Both are majoring in electrical engineering and on the Deans’ List, Alexandra with a 3.6 GPA, and Alexis with a 3.8.
‘A place for second chances’
Before taking over at Wilberforce two years ago, Williams coached at Cincinnati Christian University and Cincinnati State. He said his plan to revive the Bulldogs program included bringing in better talent and scheduling tougher – including several NCAA Division II schools – in the beginning of the season.
Wilberforce’s starting five includes four players who began their college careers elsewhere.
Senior Jacie Dickerson played at NCAA Division III Concordia University Chicago last season. McCormick was a little-used freshman at Rio Grande a year ago, Shealey started her career at Cincinnati Christian and Notter was at CSU across the street.
“This is a place for second chances,” Notter said. “They treat you like family here.”
But early this season it was a dysfunctional family at times. Some plyers who were with the team early on are gone now, Shealey said.
And in the beginning the losses mounted. Wilberforce started out 2-1 and then lost 11 of its next 13 games. Five of those setbacks were against higher division teams, which Wilberforce counts as exhibitions, So rather than a 14-17 mark, the Bulldogs are 14-12 against schools in their classification size.
Things began to change after the Christmas break and since Jan. 9 Wilberforce is 7-3.
“We just changed our hearts,” said Dickerson. “We changed how we talk to each other and motivate each other. We knew it was crunch time and we could turn it around if we put our mind to it. “
Las weekend No. 5 seeded Wilberforce – with 19 points from McCormick and 12 from Alexandra Shealey – upset No. 3 seed Haskell Indian Nations University of Kansas, 69-55. The top three finishers advanced to the national tournament.
“Coach Williams and I had hoped we’ kind of had a plan to turn the program around,” Garrett said. “Then a couple of weeks ago we realized, ‘Hey, we’ve done it.’”
‘Tough challenge’
The Wilberforce women will leave Monday by bus to meet mighty Concordia and while Williams admits it will be “a tough challenge,” it’s nothing compared to the first time students there left their Greene County campus to go to battle.
That happened early in the Civil War when a large number of students left to form their own fighting regiment for the Union Army. They were turned down by the governor of Ohio, but eventually many ended up joining the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment, the first all-black unit to fight in the Civil War.
Because of the declining enrollment and financial distress, the university shut down in 1862, but soon after was reopened.
Now some 157 years later the school again faces similar challenges and that’s presented a challenge for Williams to find funds for the trip to nationals.
While all that happens behind the scenes, the players and their fellow students are sharing a moment of glory on the Wilberforce campus.
“When we came back from Illinois, we had signs of congratulations hanging on all our doors,” said Malika Wildon, the freshman point guard from Princeton High School in Cincinnati. “We’d already made history by winning two games in the conference tournament and now we’re doing it again. It feels great.”
Lionel Garrett loves hearing that: “They are beginning to understand that you not only can dream, but you can become your dreams.”
Like McCormick’s shirt said:
Sweet.
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