MURFREESBORO – The red hot Chowan Women's basketball team improved to 4-0 in the CIAA North with an impressive 68-57 victory over Virginia Union University Saturday afternoon. Overall, the Hawks move to 9-9 and 6-4 in the CIAA. With the loss, the Lady Panthers fall to 0-14 overall (0-7 CIAA, 0-2 North).
Virginia Union started the game strong, opening up a 5-4 lead just over two minutes into the contest. This would be the last time they would be in front all afternoon. A pair of
Talaya Lynch three pointers gave Chowan an 11-7 advantage at the 15:37 mark of the first half. From there, the Hawks defense took over, holding VUU scoreless for 3:28.
A layup by senior
Najah Harris at the 9:17 mark gave Chowan its biggest lead of the first half, 20-12. The Lady Panthers responded, however, with a 7-2 run to bring the Chowan advantage down to three. VUU eventually tied the game at 25 on an Alaura Jones jumper with 4:13 remaining in the half. The Hawks quickly responded, going on a 6-0 run that was sparked by a
Ransheda Jennings layup. Chowan outscored the Lady Panthers 5-0 in the final 1:51 of the half, giving the home team a 36-30 halftime lead.
After Virginia Union scored the first three points of the second half to cut the Chowan lead to 36-33, the Hawks scored 9 of the next 10 points, opening up a 45-34 cushion at the 15:22 mark of the second half. A Virginia Union three with 11:55 remaining in the half brought the score to 52-39. Before the trey, the Chowan defense held VUU to only three points over the previous 7:39.
At the 10:11 mark of the second half, Lynch converted an and-one to give Chowan its biggest lead of the afternoon, 60-41. The Lady Panthers did not go away easily, cutting the lead to 13 with 5:56 remaining in the half. The deficit was too much to overcome, though, as the teams traded baskets down the stretch, eventually leading to the 11 point Chowan victory.
The Hawks were led by
Ransheda Jennings and
Talaya Lynch, who tallied 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Najah Harris also scored in double figures, draining 10 points. Lynch grabbed a game high eight rebounds and was a stellar 3-6 from beyond the arc. As a team, the Hawks shot 5-11 from three point land. Virginia Union was led by Valentina Wheeler who notched 11 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.
The Hawks return to action Monday night, when they host CIAA North foe Saint Paul's College. Tip-off is set for 5:30pm in the Helms Center. VUU will host Lincoln University (PA) Monday night at 5:30pm.
