RICHMOND, Va. – The #5 Virginia Union University Lady Panthers had just enough in the tank to hold on down the stretch to defeat Bowie State University 71-67.
 
Bowie State (17-6 overall, 9-4 CIAA and 4-3 North, was led by junior Kiara Colston (Burtonsville, Md.) with a game-high 25 points.  Junior Kyah Proctor (Capital Heights, Md.) added 16 points and senior Denver Clyde (Glen Burnie, Md.) contributed 11 for the Bulldogs. 
 
Virginia Union (21-1, 12-1 CIAA and 6-1 North) was led by Brittany Jackson (Sebastion, Fla.) with 23 points while Alexis Johnson (Hamilton, N.J.) and Jayda Luckie (Norfolk, Va.) closed out the double-digit scorers with 16 and 15 points respectively.
 
The Lady Panthers jumped out to a cushy 16-6 lead by the first media time out of the first quarter and held a 21-16 advantage after the first quarter. Virginia Union shot 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) from the field in the first 10 minutes compared to 6-of-15 (40 percent) for Bowie State.
 
Bowie State rallied to take its first lead of the game at 25-24 at the 4:49 mark of the second quarter following a Colston layup. The Bulldogs closed the first half with a 7-4 run and used that momentum to take a 32-28 lead into halftime.
 
Virginia Union's field goal percentage dropped significantly in the second quarter, dipping to 17.6 percent on 3-of-17 shooting compared to 37.5 percent (6-of-16) for Bowie State.
 
VUU's Lady Panthers began the third quarter with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 34-32 at the 8:12 mark. The lead would change hands twice before the Virginia Union was able  to get a little breathing room at 43-37 by the under-five (4:48) media timeout. The Panthers held a 51-44 lead after three quarters of play.
 
Virginia Union extended its lead to double-digits (56-46) by the 7:48 mark via a 5-0 run, capped off by a Lady Walker layup.
 
Bowie State closed the deficit to three (65-62) on a Colston 3-pointer with 2:53 left in the game, but that's as close as the Bulldogs would get as Virginia Union paraded to the free throw line to close out the contest.
 
The Bulldogs will close out its home portion of the regular season on Saturday (February 11th) hosting the Chowan University Hawks at 2 p.m. in the A.C. Jordan Arena.