“No area of life is without trials and defeat, sports included.”
That’s the beginning of the mission statement for athletics on the website for the College of Biblical Studies, located in Houston.
You probably didn’t know College of Biblical Studies existed, or played sports.
Until last week. Tuesday night, the men’s and women’s teams from CBS (the college, not the TV network) visited Grambling’s Fred Hobdy Assembly Center and predictably lost.
You probably didn’t know a men’s game was played, because of what happened before it began. You might be surprised the nightcap of the doubleheader ended with Grambling winning by a reasonable 84-72 margin, considering ….
The women’s score. Grambling 159, College of Biblical Studies 18.
It was 34-0, then 54-4 early in the second 10-minute quarter, and 82-10 at halftime. There’s no mercy rule or running clock in college basketball, so the drubbing didn’t stop.
In fairness, no Grambling starter played over 18 of the 40 minutes. Backups combined to score 92 points.
Unfairly, Grambling continued to press even when the spread climbed over 100. First-year GSU coach Courtney Simmons said her team strives to score 15 points every five minutes, which adds up to averaging 120 a game — which nobody does.
The Ambassadors are a first-year Division II National Christian College Athletic Association program, with a roster filled with freshmen. The college had 418 students in a recent enrollment count. That’s a thousand less than it reported in 2008.
CBS President Dr. William Blocker told the Associated Press the school has “a long way to go” with its fledgling women’s team, and also gracefully added praise for the Lady Tigers. “We also acknowledge the amazing talent at Grambling. What a historic evening for their team.”
The 141-point difference was the biggest winning margin ever by an NCAA Division I women’s basketball squad. Savannah State’s 155-26 romp over Wesleyan (of Georgia) in 2018 was the previous mark.
Simmons came to Grambling from Troy, where the Trojans ranked third nationally with an 83.3 scoring average. The GSU women are scoring 80.8 per game, 22nd in the country, well behind the 94.9 by LSU that tops the chart.
Give Simmons and her team credit: they own a 70-67 homecourt decision over Arizona State (not Arizona State Bible College), and are 7-5 overall after thrashing Prairie View 82-54 in the SWAC opener at home Saturday, heading into another homecourt appearance tonight at 5:30 to open a doubleheader against Texas Southern.
The reality of college sports is there’s a food chain, and Grambling, Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State aren’t near the top. Yes, the Lady Techsters were two decades ago, and there are sports (bowling and baseball at Tech, track and field at NSU) that have been competitive in the heavyweight division recently.
Moreso in hoops than any other sport, our local Division I schools and their conference cousins take on a few appetizers in non-conference games.
The College of Bible Studies men’s team also visited NSU’s Southland Conference rival, McNeese, and was plastered 96-55. That’s the way those games typically go. The small school visitors pick up a check as a “buy game” or “guarantee game” guest, are usually outclassed by halftime, and eat a little better postgame meal than they might ordinarily.
The Demons host McNeese tonight at 6:30, and that margin might look like a buy-game score. Former LSU coach Will Wade and a deep NIL pool in Lake Charles are a perfect combination that’s assembled players from all over who have produced a 12-2 record, including a win at Michigan, and an 8-0 homecourt mark.
The Cowboys’ slate actually includes a victory over Mississippi University for Women, which really has a men’s team, too. Not much of one, considering the 92-23 whacking the W took in Lake Charles.
A popular foe in these parts comes out of Hot Springs: Champion Christian, with an enrollment of 91, most either basketball or baseball players. Grambling’s men beat the Arkies by 40 and McNeese mangled them by 62. The GSU women rolled to a 45-point pasting of CC.
Louisiana Tech’s men drubbed Dallas Christian 96-55 last week and lashed Lyon 100-47 early this season. The Lady Techsters opened their schedule slamming LSUA 93-47 and Louisiana Christian 88-52.
The Demons own a 101-54 romp over Dallas Christian. The Lady Demons ripped SUNO 105-38, and of course, they slammed Champion Christian too – 75-39.
Now it’s conference season for everybody. Teams are playing peers. In fact, Saturday night in Houston, Champion Christian visited College of Biblical Studies in a doubleheader.
Was there a winner? Presumably one of the schools will eventually post the score on its website. I’m pretty sure the women’s game went to the visitors, though.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com