BOWIE, Md. - The Bowie State University women's basketball team overcame a halftime deficit and used a 12-0 third quarter run, rallying to defeat Livingstone College 57-46 on Sunday afternoon in the conference opener for both teams. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 8-2 overall (1-0 CIAA) and the Lady Blue Bears drop to 3-5 overall (0-1 CIAA).
 
Junior Kiara Colston (Burtonsville, Md.) led the Bowie State starters in scoring with 16 and senior Denver Clyde (Glen Burnie, Md.) came off the bench to score 14 points on 7-of-13 shooting to go along with six rebounds. Senior Ashley Jennings (Newark, N.J.) ripped down a team-high 11 rebounds and junior Pere Alexander (Baltimore, Md.) grabbed eight rebounds in the victory.
 
Livingstone began the game with a 7-0 run before Bowie State closed the margin to 10-7 by the 3:11 mark of the first quarter and trailed the Lady Blue Bears 14-7 after one quarter. Bowie State really struggled making field goals in first 10 minutes, hitting just 3-of-18 from the floor, which included 0-of-5 beyond the 3-point line.
 
The Bulldogs defense intensified during the second quarter, holding the Lady Blue Bears to 3-of-13 from the floor while making 5-of-19 on their end of the court and went into halftime trailing Livingstone 24-19.
 
Bowie State came alive in the opening minutes of the third quarter, tying the game for the first time at 24-all after a pair of Colston free throws at the 7:24 mark. The Lady Bulldogs surged to a 31-24 advantage with four minutes left in the third but Livingstone battled back to take a 37-36 lead on a Asia Green (Fayetteville, N.C.) put back as time expired to end the third.
 
Livingstone opened up a five point lead 41-36 early in the final quarter only to see Bowie State put together an 11-0 run, capped off by a Jennings free throw. That will be all the momentum the Bulldogs would need and closed the game with a 10-5 run to secure the 57-46 conference victory.
 
The Lady Blue Bears were paced by a pair of workhorses in Ari DeJesus (Providence, R.I.) with 18 points and 13 rebounds and Zena Lovette (High Point, N.C.) with a double-double of her own (14 points and 11 rebounds).
 
Neither team shot well from the field as Livingstone ended the afternoon with a 28.3 shooting percentage (17-of-60) compared to 29.7 percent (19-of-64) for Bowie State.
 
Bowie State's defense forced 17 Livingstone turnovers, outscored the Lady Blue Bears in the paint (28-14) and the Bulldogs' bench outscored the opponent's bench 22-6.
 
The Lady Bulldogs will play their final non-conference game of the season, making a short trip over to the University of the District of Columbia on Tuesday (12/13) for a 5 p.m. contest.