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The athletic facilities of Pfeiffer University have played host to more than just the Falcons’ teams in the school’s history.

Many times, teams from other area high schools and universities have used the fields for their own games when theirs were not available, including a UNC Charlotte baseball game years ago played at Joe Ferebee Field.

Thursday night, however, saw a historical first in the Falcons’ sports program as the women’s basketball team hosted N.C. Central, a NCAA Div. I team, for an exhibition between the two schools. It was the first time a D-I program had taken on the Falcons in Misenheimer in recent memory.

Pfeiffer hosted the Eagles in Merner Gym for an exhibition game because of its relationship with N.C. Central’s head coach. Terrence Baxter graduated from Pfeiffer in 2001 after playing three seasons with the Falcons, scoring 906 points and leading the Falcons to two conference championships and a Sweet 16 appearance.

“It was a surreal moment walking back through the door for the first time, and walking through the other side of it,” Baxter said, noting as a player he always entered the gym from the other set of doors where the men’s locker room is located.

“I got really emotional for a second, then I ran and found my team, and it kind of settled me down. The emotions definitely ran through me, and it was an unreal moment.”

Baxter joined NCCU in 2021 as an assistant coach and was made the interim head coach last season. He previously coached at Catawba for seven seasons, including five winning seasons and a national tournament appearance, before joining the Eagles’ staff.

He said sacrifice and believing in God got him to the D-I coaching level, saying he took a year off but “the basketball gods decided I was a basketball coach, and I ran with it. You learn from your mistakes and you get better.”

Baxter averaged better than three steals a game in his playing days at Pfeiffer, which his Eagles team has taken under its wings after setting a school record with 23 steals in the 90-55 win over the Falcons.

“I’m just trying to give them my mentality,” Baxter said. “I try to give them my personality and make them be like I was on the court. We have freshmen and sophomores now, so they are learning the mentality.”

Upon learning the game was the first Division 1 team to play Pfeiffer in Misenheimer, Baxter said, “I was glad to be the first. I like being the first. It was good to hear, and me being able to do that and pay Pfeiffer some money, that’s my giving back from the time I spent here and the people who invested in us here.”

Pfeiffer head coach Vontreece Hayes also played at Pfeiffer before graduating from Greensboro College. Hayes had a former teammate and Pfeiffer Hall of Famer on her bench for the game as a special assistant. Brittany Cox Hudson was third all-time on the women’s scoring list with 1,669 points and has the school’s all-time career record in made 3-pointers with 257.

Regarding the first D-1 opponent to take on the Falcons at a Pfeiffer venue, Hayes said, “It’s about the student-athlete experience just having Brittany Hudson on the bench with us, talking about how she played against Duke years ago. It’s nostalgic to have the head coach from NC Central be a Pfeiffer Hall of Famer, and it’s a good experience (for the players) to keep forever.”

Hayes said Hudson’s message to the team was to wear the Pfeiffer on the jersey with pride.

“She’s in the Hall of Fame; she takes it seriously,” Hayes said. “We are very close friends, so she wants to make sure that it’s a good product out there, that they are playing for themselves, playing together. The biggest thing was do this with pride. Don’t let anybody come in your home and try to run you over.”

Playing Division 1 schools, Hayes said, makes the team better. She asked her team to compete for all 40 minutes.

“Take the same shots we take anywhere else. Defend the same way we defend everyone else, and just see what happens,” Hayes said.

Pfeiffer is celebrating its 50th season of women’s basketball by hosting a reunion Feb. 8 in Merner Gym, as part of a double header of basketball. The men’s team will play at 2 p.m. followed by the women at 4 p.m.