November 11, 2012

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. (www.howard-bison.com) – Howard University senior Saadia Doyle put the Lady Bison offense on her shoulders as she tallied 36 points in HU's 72-61 loss to No. 8 Penn State in University Park, Pa., on Sunday, Nov. 11.

Along with her team-high scoring outing, Doyle also led in rebounds with six.  Redshirt junior Jerrell Gorham guided the mighty blue and white in assists and steals with four in each category and shared in the rebounding effort with six boards.

The first 20 minutes of action was the highlight of Howard's performance.  PSU tallied its first point from the charity strip, but HU quickly took the lead and held the Lady Lions to a three-point 8-5 lead. 

PSU's  Maggie Lucas, who was 4-of-8 from the long range and notched a team-high 25 points, dropped her first three at the 15:41 mark to tie the contest.

Lucas' effort commenced a 5-0 run for a 13-8 Lady Lion's lead.

HU reestablished its dominance and hit a 13-8 run, for 23-21 lead.

The Lady Lions tied the contest 23-23 at the 6:19 mark.

Lady Bison junior Cabria Johnson came off the bench and dropped two consecutive three pointers to silence the Nittany Lion fans.  Johnson's momentum pushed HU into four minutes of governance with a night-high six-point lead with a score of 31-26.

Nonetheless, the momentum shifted back to PSU when Howard senior Cheyenne Curly-Payne fouled Lucas and sent her to the free-throw line.  With an 8-0 run, the Lady Lions ended the first half with eight-point 39-31 lead.

Howard entered the second half at a much slower pace and dropping offensively in all categories.  Including a 27 percent drop from the charity stripe, this resulted in nine uncontested points lost.

Off the 30 points HU scored in the second half, Doyle was responsible for 18, including eight consecutive points over four minutes of play.

In the last 20 minutes of action, PSU lead by as many as 19 points and maintained a double-figure lead until No. 8 Penn State secured its 72-61 season-opening win.

Howard continues its road stint in Chicago, Ill, taking on DePaul on Saturday, Nov. 17 and Northwestern on Monday, Nov. 19, both contests tip-off at 7:00 p.m.

For more information on Howard women's basketball visit the official HU athletics website at www.howard-bison.com.

-HU-