RICHMOND, Va. – Bowie State University women's basketball dropped its second consecutive CIAA Northern Division contest, falling 74-56 at Virginia Union University on Saturday afternoon inside VUU's Barco-Stevens Hall.
 
Bowie State (12-5, 5-3 CIAA, 0-2 North) was led by senior Ty-Nita Baker (Houston, Miss.) with a personal season-high 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field. Senior Kyah Proctor (Capital Heights, Md.) finished the afternoon with 10 points
 
VUU's Panthers held a 13-12 lead at the first media time out of the first quarter but a pair of free throws by sophomore Dynaisha Christian (Pocomoke, Md.) gave Bowie State a 14-13 lead.  The Panthers followed with a 4-0 run only to see the Bulldogs answer with a 6-0 run of their own to retake the lead at 20-18. Virginia Union outscored Bowie State 5-2 over the final two minutes to take a 23-20 advantage after one quarter.
 
Bowie State took its largest lead of the first half at 29-26 after a layup by senior Lisa Jing (Laurel, Md.) but Shareka McNeil hit a 3-pointer and was fouled on the play. McNeil's free throw shifted the advantage back over the Virginia Union at 30-29 at the 4:47 mark of the second quarter.
 
The nationally ranked Panthers (#7) used an 11-0 run to take a 37-29 lead, forcing the Bowie State Bulldogs to call a timeout with 2:45 left in the first half and carried a 39-33 lead into halftime.
 
Virginia Union and Bowie State shot the ball well over the first 20 minutes with the Panthers hitting 14-of-27 (51.9 percent) and the Bulldogs hitting 10-of-21 (47.6 percent).
 
Bowie State trimmed the deficit to five points twice in the third quarter but trailed Virginia Union 59-49 heading into the final quarter. As a team, Bowie State tied their season-high for turnovers with 22.
 
The Bulldogs closed within nine points (65-56) at the six-minute mark on the fourth quarter but would not get any closer. Bowie State finished the game with a field goal shooting percentage of 36.7 on 18-of-49 shooting.
 
Virginia Union (17-1, 8-0 CIAA, 2-0 North) was paced by Rachael Pecota with a game-high 27 points. Shareka McNeil and Alexis Johnson rounded out the Panthers double figure scorers with 19 and 12 respectively. Jasmine Carter finished at the games' leading rebounder with 10.
 
The Panthers held advantages over the Bulldogs in points in the paint (38-22), points off turnovers (32-12), second chance points (19-14) and bench points (32-11).
 
Bulldogs women's basketball return to action on Wednesday (January 24th), hosting the Hawks of Chowan University at 5:30 p.m. in Bowie State's A.C. Jordan Arena.