By MIKE POTTER : The Herald Sun
mpotter@heraldsun.com
Mar 4, 2007 : 12:24 am ET 

CHARLOTTE -- Cassie King had never been through anything quite like this before. 

Once she scored 59 points in a CIAA Tournament game, and she had passed the 2,000-point and 1,000 rebound marks. 

And as the leading scorer in school history who is knocking on the door of becoming the leading rebounder as well, her No. 30 jersey already hangs on the Wall of Honor at McLendon-McDougald Gym. 

But on Saturday at Charlotte Bobcats Arena, the senior star and her N.C. Central women's teammates accomplished something that no Eagles team had done in her lifetime. 

They won the CIAA Basketball Tournament. 

After the Eagles got Coach Joli Robinson her first title, the school's first since 1984 and a rare CIAA crown in their final chance before going to NCAA Division I, she celebrated some more by hoisting the MVP trophy and getting a big hug from one of her favorite actresses, Vivica A. Fox. 

"I'm all smiles right now," said King, who has 2,116 points and 1,061 rebounds. She is only the second CIAA player ever to get the 2,000/1,000 double and needs 17 rebounds to top Pame Sawyer ('90) as the school's all-time top rebounder. 

"I don't know what to say. I've been waiting for this for four years. ... I made a lot of friends on this team this year, the kind I'm going to keep for a lifetime." 

King said she and her teammates weren't nervous before their big night, on which they seemed to show more energy than they had all season. 

"This is the championship, and that's enough said right there," King said. "This was the last CIAA game I'm ever going to play, and we knew we had to go full out all the time." 

Winning the game for King was just one of many motivations the Eagles had on Saturday. 

"I wanted to make sure we made Cassie and Coach Robinson happy," said freshman guard Jasmine Newkirk, the only other Raleigh native on the team. 

And they certainly got that done, winning their three tournament games by a total of 64 points. 

King had 65 points and 17 rebounds over the three games.