RICHMOND, VA. – The Chowan Women's Basketball team dropped their third straight contest to end the regular season falling to Northern Division leader and nationally ranked Virginia Union, 58-56, on Saturday.

THE BASICS

FINAL | Chowan 56, #5 Virginia Union 58

RECORDS| Chowan 18-8 (10-6), Virginia Union 25-2 (15-1)

LOCATION | Richmond, Va. (Barco-Stevens Hall)

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

Mariah Coker led the team with 15 points connecting on five threes.  Chantel Roberts and Jada Lee finished with eight points each.  Roberts added her tenth double-figure rebounding outing with 13 rebounds.

Chowan outscored Virginia Union 29-21 in the second half.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter:

Chantel Roberts started off the scoring getting to the foul line.  Roberts added a layup and Dhyamond Crenshaw hit a jumper to force a timeout by Virginia Union.

A 9-2 run by the Panthers allowed VUU to take the lead with 3:26 left in the quarter.  Jordan Pettaway gave the Hawks the lead back for a moment before a 6-2 run by VUU to end the quarter allowed the Panthers to lead 16-12 after 10 minutes.

Second Quarter:

Jada Lee hit a jumper to close the gap to 19-14 early in the quarter.  Jordan Pettaway and Mariah Coker kept the Hawks close with baskets before the Panthers widened the gap to double-figures, 29-19.

Jordan Pettaway knocked down a trey with 2:56 left to cut the deficit back to single-digits.

Danielle Weldon added back-to-back baskets to end the quarter.  Virginia Union led 37-27 at the half.

Third Quarter:

Chowan started chipping away at the deficit to open the half as Joanne Williams started the scoring with back-to-back layups.  Dhyamond Crenshaw hit a jumper to close the gap to 40-33.

The Panthers would push the advantage to 47-34, before Danielle Weldon hit a layup.  After two freebies by Jada Lee, Mariah Coker knocked down a trey  and Joanne Williams hit a layup to close the gap to four, 47-43, heading to the fourth quarter.

Fourth Quarter:

Mariah Coker hit a triple to start the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to one, 47-46.  After a quick spurt by the Panthers, Mariah Coker hit another triple to close the gap once again.

Back-to-back baskets by Jada Lee knotted the contest at 53-all with 4:17 remaining.  The defense amped up as neither team scored until Mariah Coker hit the go-ahead triple with 1:18 remaining.

Three free throws for the Panthers knotted the contest again at 56-all.

The Hawks were the victim of a missed call with 15.0 seconds left on the clock.  The Panthers converted from the charity stripe with three seconds left.

Jada Lee hurled a half court shot at the buzzer but bounced off the back room as #5 Virginia Union escaped with a 58-56 win.

UP NEXT

Chowan finished the season with an 18-8 record and 10-6 record in CIAA action.  The CIAA has yet to determine seeding.  Full brackets will be released at a later time.