WASHINGTON, D.C. – Bowie State University women's basketball held off a feisty University of the District of Columbia team, defeating the Firebirds 76-69 on Tuesday evening. The victory was the sixth straight for the Bulldogs and improves the teams' record to 9-2.
 
Both teams shot well in the opening 10 minutes of action. Bowie State shot 61.5 percent (8-of-13) in the first quarter, which included 4-of-6 behind the arc. UDC made 6-of-11 first quarter field goals (54.5 percent) and trailed the Bulldogs 22-18.
 
Bowie State maintained their six point advantage at the half, taking a 37-31 with Kiara Colston (Burtonsville, Md.) leading the way with 11 points over the first 20 minutes. The Lady Bulldogs shooting cooled off slightly in the second quarter (48.3 percent) as well as the Firebirds field goal shooting (47.8 percent.)
 
The six point cushion seemed to be the number of the night as Bowie State held a 55-49 lead over the University of the District of Columbia.
 
The Firebirds closed their deficit to 57-53 at the start of the fourth quarter but the Bulldogs responded with a 5-0 run and forced UDC to call a 30 second timeout. The Bowie State run continued following a technical foul on UDC's head coach Juan Dixon. Bianca White drained a triple with just over four minutes remaining in the game to stop the Bulldogs run but the damage was already done.
 
Junior Kyah Proctor (Capital Heights, Md.) led Bowie State in scoring with 20 points followed by fellow junior Pere Alexander (Baltimore, Md.) with a BSU career-best 14 points. Colston ended the contest with 14 points and Kyaja Williams (Baltimore, Md.) contributed a double-double of 11 points (tying her career-high) and 10 rebounds. Seniors Ashley Jennings (Newark, N.J.) and Denver Clyde (Glen Burnie, Md.) chipped in seven points each and junior Lisa Jing (Laurel, Md.) rounded out Bowie State's scorers with three points.
 
UDC (2-10) was led by Shantrel Oliver (Columbia, Md.) and NyAsia Anderson (Newark, N.J.) with 23 and 17 points respectively while Bianca White (Silver Spring, Md.) accounted for 14 points in the loss.
 
The Bulldogs are idle until returning to action on Monday (December 19th), hosting the Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith University. Game time in the A.C. Jordan Arena is set for 4 p.m.