The 2025 CIAA Basketball Tournament semifinals took place on February 28, 2025, delivering thrilling matchups that determined the finalists for both the men’s and women’s championship games. Here are the results:

Virginia State 63, Bowie State 59

Ryles was on her way of becoming the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament – the loss hurts.

Fayetteville State 62, Virginia Union 53

Virginia State 66, Lincoln (PA) 57

Bluefield State 71, Fayetteville State 65

Women’s Final: Virginia State vs. Fayetteville State at 1:00 PM EST

Men’s Final: Virginia State vs. Bluefield State at 4:00 PM EST

The Virginia State men’s and women’s teams now have an opportunity to sweep the CIAA Tournament titles for the first time since Virginia Union achieved the feat in 2018.

Today’s championship games will broadcast on ESPN+.

Virginia Union 59, Claflin 55

Bowie State 68, Livingstone 54

Bluefield State 84, Johnson C. Smith 69

Lincoln (PA) 56, Claflin 53

The winners will advance to the championship games on March 1 at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena.

ABOUT THE CIAA WBB SEMIFINALS GAMES

The 2025 CIAA Basketball Tournament continued with exciting action on Feb. 26, 2025. Here are the results from that day’s games:

Virginia State 67, Lincoln (PA) 59

Fayetteville State 72, Bluefield State 54

Johnson C. Smith 83, Elizabeth City State 75

Lincoln (PA) 58, Winston-Salem State 42

Virginia State 78, Bowie State 72

Fayetteville State 69, Virginia Union 66

The tournament continues with semifinal matchups in the coming days, building excitement towards the championship games on Mar. 1.

The 2025 CIAA Basketball Tournament opened with intense action on Feb. 25, featuring six games across men’s and women’s brackets. Here’s a breakdown of the results:

Bluefield State 74, Johnson C. Smith 59

Claflin 50, Elizabeth City State 39

Lincoln (PA) 54, Shaw 49

Bowie State 64, Winston-Salem State 54

Bowie State 68, Livingstone 64

Virginia Union 71, Shaw 45

Quarterfinal matchups continue through March 1 at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena, with all games streaming on ESPN+.

The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), the nation’s oldest Historically Black Athletic Conference, announces the brackets for its 2025 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament. The single-elimination tournament will be held at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, MD on February 25 – March 1st.

Championship games will tip-off at 1:00 p.m. for the women followed by the men at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 1st. Each bracket is seeded based on Division record. If division records are tied, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head results followed by head-to-head point differential.

In the Men’s field, Virginia State University solidified the top seed in the Northern Division by posting a 7-3 divisional record. Led by Head Coach Lonnie Blow Jr., the Trojans finished the regular season with a 13-3 record in CIAA action. The Trojans made it to the second day of last year’s quarterfinals before being eliminated.

The No. 2 seed goes to Bluefield State. Under the guidance of head coach Devin Hoehn, the Big Blue finished regular season play with an 10-6 conference record including 6-4 in the division.

With a 3-way tie for the No. 3 seed, reigning champions Lincoln University (PA) take the third spot with a +1 point differential over Virginia Union and a head-to-head tiebreaker over Bowie State.

With the Trojans at the No. 3 seed, Virginia Union edges out Bowie State with two head-to-head regular season wins and take the No. 4 seed. Bowie State will sit at the No. 5 seed with Elizabeth City State at No. 6.

1) Virginia State University

2) Bluefield State University

3) Lincoln University (PA)

4) Virginia Union University

5) Bowie State University

6) Elizabeth City State University

In the Men’s Southern Division, Fayetteville State takes the top spot for the 4th straight season. Claflin comes in at No. 2 for the second straight season with an 8-2 divisional record and Johnson C. Smith grabbed the third spot after concluding the season with a .500 record. After a head-to-head point differential tiebreaker, Livingstone claims the No. 4 spot over Shaw University at the No.5 spot. Winston-Salem State rounds out the Southern Division at the No. 6 spot.

1) Fayetteville State University

2) Claflin University

3) Johnson C. Smith University

4) Livingstone College

5) Shaw University

6) Winston-Salem State University

The first men’s game of the 2025 CIAA Basketball Tournament will be Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. with Livingstone taking on Bowie State. The full bracket can be found here.

In the women’s northern division, Virginia State came out on top with a near perfect 9-1 divisional record after defeating rival Virginia Union in their final regular season game.

The Panthers, however, were close behind, as they’re locked into the second seed after posting an 8-2 divisional record on the season.

Bowie State rounds out the top-three of the northern division, as they finished with an above .500 record in the division at 6-4. Lincoln (PA) and Bluefield State come in next, respectively, with the Lions taking the four seed thanks to a +8 point differential over the Big Blue, who claim the five seed, while Elizabeth City State takes the six seed in the division at 1-9.

1) Virginia State University

2) Virginia Union University

3) Bowie State University

4) Bluefield State University

5) Lincoln University (PA)

6) Elizabeth City State University

In the southern portion of the women’s division, reigning champions Fayetteville State finished where they left off, as their 9-1 record propelled them to the top spot. Livingstone, who showed much improvement from last year’s fifth-seed finish, jumped up all the way to the two seed, boasting a 7-3 record in the division.

Claflin rounds out the top three as they finished with a record above .500, coming in at 6-4 in the division.

The Bears of Shaw University are in possession of the four seed at 4-6, while Johnson C. Smith and Winston-Salem State’s divisional records have them as the five and six seed, respectively, with the Golden Bulls finishing ahead of the Rams thanks to a +1 point differential.

1) Fayetteville State University

2) Livingstone College

3) Claflin University

4) Shaw University

5) Johnson C. Smith University

6) Winston-Salem State University

The first women’s game of the 2025 CIAA Basketball Tournament will be Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. with Bluefield State taking on Johnson C. Smith. The full bracket can be found here.

All 22 games will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN+ (https://plus.espn.com/) with the championship games also being shown on ESPNU.