February 16, 2009

Boxscore

ORANGEBURG, S.C. - Zykia Brown scored a team-high 20 points and Morgan Neal and Tamaya Daniels added 16 and 14, respectively to lead Howard University to a 73-56 win over South Carolina State in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's game at the Smith-Hammond-Middletown Center.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Lady Bison while the Lady Bulldogs dropped their fourth straight.

Howard (5-19 overall, 4-7 in the MEAC) rebounded from a disappointing 59-56 loss at Winston-Salem State on Saturday by controlling the game from the outset.  The Lady Bison jumped out to a 10-2 lead and coasted to a 37-24 halftime advantage.  Brown and Neal led the way by combining for 20 of their team's points.

The duo continued their success early in the second half before senior center Tamaya Daniels began to assert herself by tallying 10 of her points after intermission.

In addition to the scoring of the triumvirate of Brown, Neal and Daniels, the Lady Bison were able to play solid defense, limiting SC State (5-18 overall, 2-10 in the MEAC) to 38 percent shooting and taking the care of the ball.  Howard turned the ball over a season-low eight times, only twice in the second half.

A 5-8 sophomore guard, Brown is making a strong bid for all-conference honors.  She connected on 8-of-14 shots from the field and added three assists and two steals.  Neal, who turned in one of her best efforts of the season, also helped out on the boards with eight as did Daniels with a team-high nine caroms.

Charae Baulkman, who has played well of late off the bench, had another solid effort with six points and six rebounds.

In the loss to WSSU, the Lady Bison went down on a three-point shot just before the final buzzer.  But what was missed in the anxiety of the last-second defeat was the poor free throw shooting that contributed to the loss.  Howard rebounded from that performance by connecting on 83 percent (15-of-18) from the charity stripe.

The Lady Bulldogs got a game-high 25 points from center Marie Reid and 10 from guard Sophillia Hipps but no other SC State player reached double figures.

NEXT UP: The Lady Bison will try to make it two in a row when they host Morgan State on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Burr Gymnasium.