BOWIE, Md. – Junior Kiara Colston (Burtonsville, Md.) scored a game-high 18 points as the Bowie State University Bulldogs women's basketball team got back to its winning ways on Saturday afternoon, defeating Lincoln (Pa.), 53-45, in their first Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Northern Division game.  PHOTO'S (Courtesy of Carroll Smith)
 
With the win, Bowie State pushed its season record to 14-3, but more importantly, 6-1 in the conference. The loss drops the Lincoln (Pa.) Lady Lions record to 4-12 overall, 2-5 in league play and 0-1 in the division.
 
Bowie State started a little slow but picked up the pace late in the first quarter, taking a double-digit lead (21-10) with 40 seconds remaining in the opening period. The Bulldogs grew to a first half high of 16 points (26-10) at the 7:38 mark of the second quarter following a Pere Alexander (Baltimore, Md.) 3-pointer and the home team walked into halftime with 31-21 advantage.
 
The Bulldogs increased their lead to as many as 17 in the third quarter and again in the fourth quarter.  The Lady Lions then used an 11-2 flourish to close the gap to single digits at 51-43 with just 2:23 remaining.
 
Bowie State slowed the ball down over the final moments of the game and got several offensive rebounds off missed shots which allowed Lincoln (Pa.) only one more field goal.
 
Tiera Pendleton (Baltimore, Md.) and She'quan Bailey (Denton, Md.) paced the Lincoln (Pa.) Lady Lions with 12 and 11 points respectively. Monique Cheek (Teaneck, N.J.) and Diamond Mickle (Fredericksburg, Va.) pulled down a team-high seven rebounds each in the loss.
 
Bowie State held advantages in points in the paint (22-14), points off turnovers (15-10), second chance points (19-7) and rebounds (43-32). The Bulldogs closed out the game with a field goal shooting percentage of 39.2 (20-of-51), which included 4-of-12 (33.3 percent) behind the 3-point line and 56.3 percent (9-of-16) at the free throw line.  
 
Senior Ashley Jennings (Newark, N.J.) and junior Kyah Proctor (Capitol Heights, Md.) tallied 11 points each. Other Bowie State scorers include Alexander with six points to go along with four rebounds, senior Denver Clyde (Glen Burnie, Md.) with three points and added six rebounds, junior Lisa Jing (Laurel, Md.) with two points and freshman Kyaja Williams (Baltimore, Md.) with two points.
 
Jennings grabbed a game-high nine rebounds while Proctor and Williams pulled down seven each for the Bulldogs
 
Lincoln (Pa.) shot 27.7 percent from the floor (13-of-47), 36.4 percent from long range (4-of-11) and hit 15-of-24 free throws (62.5 percent).
 
The Bulldogs welcome nationally ranked Virginia Union University to the A.C. Jordan Arena on Wednesday (1/18) night for a 5:30 p.m. contest.