BOWIE, Md. – Nationally ranked Virginia Union University took control of the game early, defeating Bowie State University women's basketball 67-52 on Saturday afternoon in the A.C. Jordan Arena.
 
Leading Bowie State (14-8, 7-6 CIAA, 2-5 North) was senior Kyah Proctor (Capital Heights, Md.) with a team-high 20 points and sophomore Kyaja Williams (Baltimore, Md.) with 10 points off the Bulldogs bench to go along with a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Seniors Kiara Colston (Burtonsville, Md.) and Ty-Nita Baker (Houston, Miss.) tallied eight and six points respectively. Senior Lisa Jing (Laurel, Md.), redshirt junior Pere Alexander (Baltimore, Md.) and graduate student Sade Chatman (Minneapolis, Minn.) rounded out Bowie State's scorers with four points, three points and one point respectively.
 
The Virginia Union Lady Panthers shot a chilly 28.1 percent from the field in the first half (9-of-32) but knocked down 10-of-12 free throws (83.3 percent) in the first 20 minutes and strolled into halftime with a 30-19 cushion.
 
The Bulldogs were just as cold from the field in the first half, making just 6-of-23 (26.1 percent), which included 4-of-11 behind the 3-point line.
 
Bowie State chipped away at the Virginia Union lead, closing the gap to four at 34-30 at the 7:41 mark of the third quarter after a Proctor 3-pointer. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the Lady Panthers showed their might and pushed the Virginia Union lead to 49-36 by the end of the third quarter.
 
The Lady Panthers extended its lead to a game-high 21 points early in the fourth quarter (57-36) and were never threatened beyond the 9:06 mark.
 
As a team, the Bulldogs finished the game with a field goal shooting percentage of 30.8 percent (16-of-52), 36.8 percent beyond the arc (7-of-19) and 13-of-20 (65 percent) at the charity stripe.
 
The VUU Lady Panthers outrebounded the Bulldogs 43-34, converted 17 Bowie State turnovers into 22 points and held advantages in second chance points (20-8) and bench points (31-19).
 
Virginia Union (22-2, 12-1 CIAA, 6-1 North) was led by Alexis Johnson (Hamilton, N.J.) with 24 points to go along with eight rebounds. VUU's Rachael Pecota (San Francisco, Calif.) and Kishona Sutton (Norfolk, Va.) led the Lady Panthers on the boards with nine rebounds apiece. Pecota and Sutton also contributed 18 and 10 points respectively in the win.
 
Bowie State women's basketball make their final regular season road trip on Saturday (February 17th) traveling to Chowan University for 2 p.m. tipoff in the Helms Center.