GRAMBLING, La. — Grambling State got baskets early, often and in between from everybody to set an NCAA Division I record for margin of victory in men’s or women’s basketball with a 159-18 blowout of the College of Biblical Studies on Tuesday night.
The Lady Tigers’ 141-point cushion topped Savannah State women’s 155-26 rout of Wesleyan (Georgia) in November 2018.
Grambling led 34-0 before CBS scored its first basket with 2:14 remaining in the first quarter. The Tigers — who play in the Southwest Athletic Conference comprised of historically Black colleges and universities — led 46-6 after 10 minutes and 82-10 at halftime and allowed just three points in the third on the way to their record-setting performance.
First-year Grambling coach Courtney Simmons said Wednesday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that her team’s goal was playing its best basketball rather than running up the score against the startup program comprised of freshmen. The former Louisville, Tulane and Trinity Valley player noted in a phone interview Wednesday night with The Associated Press that none of her starters played more than 18 minutes and that her eight reserves combined for 92 points in brief rotations.
“We preach championship talk and our goal is to score 15 points every five minutes,” said Simmons, attributing her philosophy to 10 years as a Troy assistant and recruiting coordinator under Chanda Rigby, whose squad ranked third nationally in scoring at 83.3 points per game.
“If we score 15 points every five minutes it means you score 120 points. So, that’s our goal every game. … For people who didn’t see the game and don’t take the time to look at the box score, I think is hard for them to understand like, ‘Oh my God, how could they run the score up on them like that?’ But honestly, we weren’t trying to. That’s why the players on the other team weren’t upset and their coaches weren’t upset.”
Grambling’s 72.9-point score average is tied for 91st among 348 DI teams. The Tigers (6-5) enter Saturday’s SWAC opener against Prairie View A&M with impressive nonconference wins over Arizona State (70-67), Northwestern State (64-59) and Nicholls State (69-50).
Arianna Mosley had 27 points and Kahia Warmsley 20 off the bench as eight Grambling players scored in double figures and helped the team make 70 of 119 shots (59%). Alyssa Lowe scored eight points for CBS — a Houston-based Division II school that plays in the National Christian College Athletic Association — which hit just 8 of 43 (19%).
The Ambassadors (0-7) began their inaugural season of competition in October and the women’s basketball website shows a roster of eight freshmen. The fledgling program has allowed at least 100 points three times and scored 22 points or fewer three times.
CBS President Dr. William Blocker said in a statement to the AP that the school has “a long way to go,” but is excited for the new journey. Blocker added, “We also acknowledge the amazing talent at Grambling. What a historic evening for their team!”
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