By Alexis Davis
Fayetteville State’s women’s basketball team made the deepest NCAA tournament run in the program’s history before losing the Division II Atlantic Region championship game to Gannon University 72-47 on Tuesday.
The Broncos’ most successful postseason was spearheaded by interim head coach Tyreece Brown, who stepped into the role on March 1, 2023. Exactly a year later, he would find himself preparing to lead the group to the program’s fifth Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament championship win.
“It was go time,” Brown said. “When you get an opportunity, you have to be ready. I have no fear at all. It’s really no pressure, it’s basketball. It’s something that I love to do. I don’t really look at this as a job. I’ve always loved this. I just pour my heart and soul into the game.”
The former assistant coach has been a part of the coaching staff since 2011. Brown took Fayetteville State’s men’s basketball team to the CIAA championship game in 2005 as a starting guard.
“My upbringing and being around so many great coaches prepared me for this,” Brown said. “There’s so much I’ve learned from them and I am still learning up until this day. I am forever a student of the game. I knew that I was ready and prepared regardless of it being my first year.”
For the past three seasons, Brown has coached graduating senior Aniylah Bryant with a front-row seat to her development. Bryant went from being a shy transfer from Louisburg College in North Carolina to the leader of the Broncos. The CIAA recognized her as the conference’s 2024 women’s player of the year and MVP of the tournament. She also was named to the All-Atlantic Region team.
During the Broncos’ NCAA tournament run, Bryant scored more than 20 points in two of the three games. In the Sweet 16 game against Gannon, she struggled offensively, scoring only six points, but managed to get five steals.
“I’ve always loved defense,” Bryant said. “I really believe in the statement that defense leads to offense. Day to day I am a very laid-back person, so on the court, that’s my space to let everything out. That’s why I play so hard. Everything that I carry on my shoulders I release on the court. It’s my escape from reality.”
Bryant leads by example, Brown said.
“Even if it’s just practice, she’s going to give it everything she has,” he said. “She sets the tone and that’s just so important as one of the star players. She’s going to bring it defensively and offensively on every play. It was an honor and blessing to coach her. She set the foundation of this program.”
Bryant said she believes the CIAA tournament, during which the team won its second championship in the last four years, was key in the Broncos reaching the Sweet 16 this year.
“I believe the CIAA tournament helped us go as far as we did in the NCAA tournament,” Bryant said. “The competition in the CIAA is just unmatched, in my opinion.”
Bryant grew up playing basketball with her cousins until the sun went down on her grandmother’s dirt court in Harlowe, North Carolina. During high school, a car struck and killed her best friend, Antoine Marcel Godette Jr., a month before their graduation.
His death helped Bryant put the tournament loss in perspective.
“He always told me that one day that I would do what I am doing right now,” Bryant said. “He told me I could make it from where we came from. I think when I feel down about losses, I just think of him.”
When Brown’s team arrived back in Fayetteville from the NCAA Division II tournament, he took comfort in thinking about the future of the program despite the disappointing loss.
Sophomore Talia Trotter worked her way into starting for the team as a freshman. Trotter was Fayetteville State’s second-leading scorer during its NCAA tournament run, and Brown believes even with Bryant’s departure, the program is in great hands moving forward.
“It just feels so good to have another floor general on the floor,” Brown said. “I played point guard here and I know how important this position is. Talia is great right now, and she’s even still growing. … To be only a sophomore, she’s very strong with the ball.”
This season also has given former Radford University guard Charnissa Chillers an opportunity to come into her own as an assistant coach for Fayetteville State.
“I think for me this season, I grew a lot outside of the basketball side of things,” Chillers said. “This year I learned a lot about the business of basketball. Since Coach [Brown] has brung me on board, he has been teaching me how to become a head coach at some point. I wasn’t just doing individuals [workouts] or checking in on study hall. He was showing me how to really run things like budgets and scholarships.”
This year, two other teams from historically Black colleges and universities, Miles College and West Virginia State University, earned a chance to compete for the Division II women’s basketball national championship.
“Here and at other HBCUs, we have the basketball IQ, we have the coaches and the resources,” Chillers said. “It’s all about just putting it on the proper platform so that everyone else can see it as well.”
Miles faced Valdosta State University in the opening round but fell short, 66-55. West Virginia State faced top-seeded Gannon in the opening round and lost, 73-53. The Broncos stayed afloat in the tournament the longest of the three historically Black colleges.
“This was a big statement for HBCUs,” Brown said. “Even at the highest levels, HBCU basketball does not get a lot of publicity, and it’d been like that over the years. We’ve had great ladies that have gone to Division II schools. Sometimes, they think they have to go to Division I schools to win. You can come to an HBCU and win.”
Despite Brown’s longtime commitment to Fayetteville State as a player and assistant coach, coupled with his success in his first year leading the program, it is still unknown whether “interim” will be removed from Brown’s title.
“When I think of my future, I take it day by day,” Brown said. “I am a strong Christian, and I follow by faith, not by sight. I think about how I can better this team and how we can better ourselves as coaches. The rest will take care of itself.”