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PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy of Carroll Smith)

(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) The Lady Bulldogs from Bowie State University picked up the first spot in the 2009 CIAA Women's Championship game after rolling to a 59-37 win over Virginia State University this afternoon in semi-final action. The Lady Bulldogs showed why they were the top dog in the 2009 CIAA Women's Bracket as they rolled to the twenty-two point win over Lady Trojans at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Bowie State University jumped out to an early lead after starting the game with a 12-0 run. The Lady Trojans finally got on the board after Angela Brown (Orange, NJ) converted a three-point play after being fouled in the paint at the 13:00 mark of the first half. 

But the Lady Trojans couldn't get their offense going as they shot just 14% from the floor in the first half. They scored just 11 first half points with three baskets made from the floor. Five of those 11 points for VSU came from the charity stripe. On the other end of the court, Bowie State got 10 points from Teaunsha Robinson (Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Polytechnic) to take a 20-11 lead into the locker room at halftime. 

Virginia State continued with their shooting struggles to open the second period but a run around the 10:00 mark brought the Lady Trojans a little closer to BSU at 34-24. Back to back buckets by the Lady Trojans cut the Lady Bulldogs lead to six points at 36-30 with six minutes to play in the game. But just three possessions later the lead was back to 12 points with three straight scores for BSU. The Lady Bulldogs added to that lead at 51-34 with just over three minutes to play. BSU's Bianca Lee (Temple Hills, MD, Archbishop Carroll) gave her team a 55-35 lead after nailing a three pointer at the top of the arch just minute later. 

After pouring in 18 points for Bowie State, Denisha Kenion (Ft. Washington, MD, Oxon Hill, University of

Virginia) earned the Food Lion Most Valuable Player award. Joining her teammate in double-figures was Robinson who netted 16 points on a 6-11 shooting performance. Bowie State improves their overall record to 19-10 after today's win. 

For Virginia State Angela Brown was named her team's Food Lion Most Valuable after scoring 10 points and hauling in 14 rebounds. Leslie Phillips (Riverdale, GA) had nine points in the VSU loss. The Lady Trojans run at the championship ends with a 21-8 record. 

Bowie State will await the winner of the second women's semi-final game featuring #7 Saint Augustine's College and #3 Johnson C. Smith University. That game tips off at 3:00pm while tomorrow's championship game will be played at 5:00pm. Don't forget that tomorrow's CIAA Championship action can be caught on ESPN Classic.