Winston-Salem State and Shaw of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association provided the opposition when the Shepherd womens team opened its season last weekend at the Butcher Center.

Shepherd defeated Winston-Salem State, 72-66, in its first game by outscoring the visiting Rams, 14-8, in the fourth quarter.

Morgan Arden (21 points), Kari Lankford (17 points), transfer Kayla Tibbs (15 points) and Cara Mason (11 points) paced the Rams in scoring.

Lankford also provided 10 rebounds and five assists to the Shepherd cause. Mason recorded five assists and Liz Myers had seven rebounds, but six turnovers.

Winston-Salem State outrebounded the Rams, 47-32, and Shepherd committed 20 turnovers.

The Rams were 12-for-14 from the free throw line, but made only 26-of-68 (38.2 percent) field goal attempts.

The next afternoon, Shaw defeated the Rams, 83-79, by outscoring Shepherd, 27-19, in the fourth quarter.

The visiting Bears outrebounded Shepherd, 45-37, and used the double-figure scoring of four players to get the comeback win.

Shaw made 50 percent of its field goal tries and 75 percent of its foul shots.

On the other hand, Shepherd was just 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) from the foul line and 32-for-79 (40.5 percent) from the field.

Tibbs posted a team high 18 points with Arden counting 14 points, Mason 13 points, freshman Lauren Reed 12 points, Myers 11 points and Lankford eight points.

Myers had nine rebounds, Lankford nine rebounds and six assists and Mason eight assists.

Shepherd committed 13 turnovers in the loss.

The Rams are at the Butcher Center tomorrow (Saturday) for a Mountain East Conference game against Glenville, which won its first two games of the new season in a tournament at West Chester (Pennsylvania).