MURFREESBORO, N.C. – Junior Kiara Colston (Burtonsville, Md.) led Bowie State women's basketball in scoring for the seventh time this season, pumping in a game-high 27 points on 9-of-20 shooting and fellow junior Kyah Proctor (Capitol Heights, Md.) also scored in double figures, pouring in 26 points, as the visiting Bulldogs held off Chowan for a 75-70 CIAA Northern Division victory on Saturday afternoon at Helms Center.
 
The win improved the Bulldogs record to 15-4, 7-2 in conference play and 2-1 in the division. Bowie State out-rebounded their opponent 53-45 and finished the game with field goal shooting percentage of 36.5 (23-of-63) and 75.8 percent at the free throw line (25-of-33).
 
Bowie State freshman Kyaja Williams (Baltimore, Md.) scored seven points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with pair of assists and a pair of steals. In addition to Williams' rebounding efforts, junior Pere Alexander pulled down nine boards, followed by Proctor with eight and senior Ashley Jennings (Newark, N.J.) with six in the win.
 
The Chowan Hawks (12-6, 5-2 CIAA, 2-1 North) were led by Jordan Payne's double-double of 22 points and a dozen rebounds, while Dhyamond Crenshaw came off the bench and provided a spark for the Hawks, finishing with 13 points to go along with five steals and four rebounds. Jada Lee contributed 10 points while Chantel Roberts and Jordan Pettaway were responsible for seven and six rebounds respectively.
 
Bowie State took a 32-28 into the halftime break but back-to-back scores by CU's Payne to open the third quarter gave the Hawks their first lead since the opening play of the game at 33-32.  The lead would change hands five more times in the third as the Bulldogs held a 47-46 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The Bulldogs began the fourth quarter with a 4-0 run and a 51-46 lead, but Lee and Roberts answered for the Hawks with a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws respectively to close the Bowie State lead to 51-50 at the 7:56 mark. As in the third quarter, the lead would change hands five more times in regulation with a tie score of 65-all at the end of regulation.
 
The Bowie State duo of Colston and Proctor did all of the Bulldogs scoring in overtime, allowing the visitors to pull away late in the overtime period and iced the game after hitting 4-of-5 from the foul line over the last two minutes.
 
The Bulldogs return home to host Virginia State on Wednesday (Jan. 25th) for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off in the A.C. Jordan Arena.