Box Score MURFREESBORO- The Chowan University women's basketball team earned a hard fought 66-57 win over the visiting Shaw University Lady Bears on Saturday afternoon in CIAA play. The win takes the Hawks to 5-7 on the season and evens their league record to 1-1. The Lady Bears move to 8-6 on the year with the setback and slip to 1-1 against CIAA competition.

Jordan Payne scored 22 points for the Hawks in the win while Rachel Gostomski and Alisha Mobley followed with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Mobley grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in the win while Summer Curtis hauled in six blocks.

Verdine Warner led all players in the contest with 26 points and 16 rebounds for Shaw. Tabatha Anderson followed with nine points for the Lady Bears.

The first half featured intense play for both teams as the first interval had seven lead changes and 10 ties. Gostomski put the Hawks on the board first with a three-pointer and Mobley added a layup to give Chowan an early 5-0 advantage. The Hawks held onto the lead until the 10:35 mark when Kaula Jacks hit a jumper for the Lady Bears and Warner followed with two made free-throws give Shaw a narrow 15-13 advantage. Chowan remained within striking distance of the Lady Bears but headed into halftime trailing 35-34.

Payne's made free throw at the start of the second half returned the lead to Chowan, which they extended to as many as ten points with 8:16 left in the game (55-45). Shaw clawed back to orchestrate a 10-2 run at the 5:10 mark capped by Tabatha Anderson's three-pointer. The Hawks dug deep to put the game back out of reach for the Lady Bears and closed out the contest with a 66-57 victory.

Chowan's win over Shaw on Saturday was the Hawks' second in program history. The Hawks return to action on January 5^th when they host Saint Augustine's. The CIAA crossover game tips-off at 5:30pm.