WASHINGTON, D.C. — Roughly two hours before the Coastal Athletic Association championship game tipped off, Taylor Barbot sat quietly in a chair with headphones on, getting her neck massaged. Soon, a mini concert broke out.
Several College of Charleston players belted out lyrics from Salt-N-Pepa’s “I’ll Take Your Man,” rapping and singing together as their voices echoed through the arena hallway between the locker room and media room. They danced and laughed like a team that already sensed something special waiting for them on the other side of the afternoon.
Later, during warmups, the Cougars gathered for their traditional pregame group photo, a ritual they repeat before every game.
A few hours later, that feeling became reality as they posed for several historic postgame snapshots.
It was only fitting that the ball rested in Barbot’s hands as the final buzzer sounded Sunday afternoon at CareFirst Arena, sealing top-seeded Charleston’s hard-earned 68-56 victory over No. 10 seed Hofstra. It’s the program’s first CAA championship. The triumph also punched the Cougars’ ticket to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
Barbot’s fingerprints were all over the accomplishment.
She spent much of the weekend dropping dimes to teammates, so it felt only natural that she was the one handing out white CAA champion hats to a couple of Charleston cheerleaders as the celebration unfolded. Around her, jubilant teammates snapped selfies, danced, hugged and posed for photos with the CAA championship trophy.
She even received the honor of placing the white “Charleston” placard onto the large CAA tournament bracket on the championship line.
“The kids just worked, and they let us push them,” Charleston head coach Robin Harmony told The IX Basketball on the arena floor. “We knew we were a good team, and tonight we were good and a little lucky because you’ve got to get some of those bounces. They had to miss some shots so we could build that lead. I’m just really proud of our kids because they kept working and didn’t want to go home.”
But Taylor Barbot didn’t act alone in the win. She and her twin sister, Taryn, made sure the Cougars kept dancing. They overwhelmed Hofstra with a double-barreled attack that had the Pride seeing double.
Two-time CAA Player of the Year Taryn Barbot was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. She finished with 23 points, many of them assisted by her sister Taylor, who added 16 points and eight assists. This was a day after Taylor handed out 11 assists, the third most single-game total in CAA tournament history.
Taryn raised her career point total to 1,679, becoming the all-time Division I scoring leader in Charleston program history. She’s also fourth on Charleston’s all-time scoring list.
Grace Ezebilo, who finished with her ninth double-double of 10 points and 16 rebounds, fell to her knees, closed her eyes and prayed as her teammates ecstatically gathered around her. When she finished, Ezebilo sprang to her feet and screamed, savoring the sweet satisfaction of knowing the top-seeded Cougars had made history.
Charleston is also the first No. 1 seed since 2017 to win the CAA championship. With a Division I program record 27 victories, the Cougars earned a No. 14 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament and a trip to No. 3 Duke for a Friday clash at 11:30 a.m. ET.
“I feel like it means a lot, especially because we’ve come up short in the past,” Taylor Barbot said. “So getting this win, especially with some of the ones who’ve been here a while – like (Marissa Brown), Naylee (Cortes) and Jami (Hill) – it means a lot because it’ll be in the history books forever.”
Postgame, the twintastic duo soaked in the moment, posing for photos and dancing with teammates. At one point, Taryn nearly forgot the CAA trophy before someone reminded her to grab it – the prize sitting just a few feet away.
This was the moment the Barbot sisters stayed to be a part of.
Two years ago, they arrived at Charleston determined to build something. When other programs came calling with money and promises in the transfer portal, they turned them down, intent on finishing what they had started.
“It was just a perfect fit for them,” Harmony said. “And we kept them because in this era, a lot of times people come in and scoop up your best players. They tried. They have really great parents. Their parents were loyal. They knew that we took a chance on them when we recruited them. They were offered all kinds of money, and they said no.”
A chemistry major, Taylor Barbot wants to become a doctor when her playing days are over. Charleston is the ideal place to accomplish her goals.
It makes perfect sense.
For the past three years, the Cougars’ point guard has already been practicing a version of that calling on the court – diagnosing what a possession needs, delivering the right pass at the right time and lifting teammates when the moment demanded it most while placing opponents on the critical list.
Point guards, after all, spend their careers helping others thrive.
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Taylor Barbot has done that with calm precision, steady hands and quiet leadership that rarely seeks the spotlight. Whether threading a bounce pass through traffic, pushing the pace in transition or settling her teammates during tense moments, she has spent much of her career putting others in a position to succeed.
“I’m just trying to work hard and use basketball as a tool to reach my ultimate goal,” Taylor said to The IX Basketball. “I’m balancing that with basketball right now. I want to do emergency medicine.”
One day, those same instincts will guide her in a hospital or clinic. Instead of helping teammates score, she’ll be helping patients heal.
But on this afternoon inside CareFirst Arena, Taylor Barbot delivered one more kind of treatment for Charleston – the steady hand that helped spark the Cougars’ second-half surge.
Charleston seemed unfazed by a 33-30 halftime deficit.
As the players waited for the second half to begin, small moments unfolded in the quiet pause before the storm. Taryn Barbot scratched her arm. Ezebilo tucked her jersey into her shorts. Sophia Tougas and Hill exchanged a quick low-five. Taylor simply stood there, calm and patient.
Soon, Charleston – particularly the Barbot twins – changed the game.
The Cougars unleashed a 19-0 run that bridged the end of the second quarter and the start of the third. Taylor began it with a basket just before the halftime buzzer. Then the sisters took over, combining for 10 points as Charleston ripped off 17 straight to open the second half and seize control.
Two of Taylor’s three assists during the run went to her sister, including one that led to Taryn banking in a 3-pointer to give Charleston the lead for good, 35-33, with 9:02 remaining in the third quarter.
Beyond the Barbot sisters, Charleston’s run to the championship featured big moments from Tougas and Hill, a pair of players who overcame significant adversity to become key contributors.
Hill tore her ACL in a game against Saint Joseph’s and watched as the Cougars were escorted out of the CAA tournament in last year’s semifinals. She finished with 14 points and made three 3-pointers against Hofstra. She scored in double figures in all three CAA tournament games, averaging 11.6 points.
Meanwhile, Tougas – who made a career-high six 3-pointers in Charleston’s quarterfinal win over William & Mary – was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at her previous school, CSU Bakersfield, where she played from 2020-23. She initially feared she might never play basketball again.
“For me to be here today is just more than a dream for me,” Tougas told The IX Basketball. “I couldn’t ask for anything more. Basketball, it’s been in my life since I can ever remember. It’s a part of me at this point. So when they told me that, I was at a loss. I just said, ‘No.’ There was no other answer besides getting back on that court. So this moment, oh my gosh, it’s just so much. I just don’t have the words. I’m very appreciative and grateful to be in this moment.”
Meanwhile, for 20 minutes, Hofstra let itself dream.
The tenth-seeded Pride played with the freedom of a team that had already survived the hardest part of March – believing it belonged. They moved the ball with confidence, attacked the paint and erased an early 10-point deficit, allowing fans to imagine the possibility of something rare: the lowest seed in the bracket storming all the way to a championship.
For a moment, with the arena pulsating with electricity, the improbable felt possible behind the sweet shooting of Hofstra’s All-Tournament triumvirate of Chloe Sterling, Emma Von Essen and Alarice Gooden.
Von Essen, who made the game-winning 3-pointer in the Pride’s opening-round win over Towson, led Hofstra with 13 points. Sterling had 12 points, five assists and five rebounds, and Gooden added 11 points.
Sandra Magolico totaled four blocks, while Neveah Brown scored 10 points, including a basket late in the first half that gave the Pride its largest lead, 33-28.
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“I think it’s special,” Sterling said about Hofstra’s run. “This was our goal the whole year. We came out here, and we did it. Every game we put together a run, and it’s sad that it didn’t end how we wanted it to, but I’m super proud of my team.”
Hofstra’s tournament run had already been one of the most compelling stories of the week. The Pride fought through the bracket with grit and composure, showing the same resilience that defined much of their season.
Even Sunday, the Pride refused to disappear quietly.
Hofstra battled on the boards, chased loose balls and continued to compete long after Charleston seized control, pulling within nine points twice in the fourth quarter.
The Pride’s faith never wavered. It was the same belief that carried them through the early rounds of the tournament and into a championship game few predicted they would reach. Yet, when the starting lineups were introduced, it was the Pride who answered the call with TikTok dances and fancy handshakes. That’s a victory in itself.
“I want to say thank you to Hofstra because they really came out and gave us a heck of a game,” Harmony said postgame to reporters. “They worked. They never quit. You have to make sure we recognize them. We started out really fast, and then in the second quarter, we kind of got outworked and outhustled. We went in at halftime, made some really good adjustments, and then we just came out and did our thing in that third.”
Harmony’s voice softened as she spoke about the players who stayed.
Because championships are remembered.
But loyalty is what makes them legendary.
“When you look at Taylor and Taryn, the combination of the points that they had, they just carried us,” Harmony said. “They’re the kids that have the most pressure. They’re the kids that we ride the most and yell at for little things that nobody else will. Those kids just worked. Thank them for coming here. Thank them for staying. … Now they have a banner forever and ever.”
