MURFREESBORO, N.C. – Bowie State women's basketball erased a 17-point deficit and rallied to edge the Chowan Hawks 47-45 on Saturday afternoon in CU's Helms Center. The 47 points were a season-low for the Bulldogs who improve to 16-3 overall, 8-2 in CIAA play and 1-2 in the Northern Division.
 
The Bulldogs were led offensively by junior Kyaja Williams with 14 points to go along with five rebounds, three steals and one assist. Senior Lea Whitehead came off the Bowie State bench to record nine points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field.
 
Bowie State held an early 4-3 lead to start the game, but Chowan used a 12-0 run to gain the advantage and held a 15-4 lead after one quarter of play. The Bulldogs really struggled in the first 10 minutes, making just 1-of-14 from the field.
 
The Hawks kept the foot on the gas in the second quarter, pushing their lead to a game-high 17 points (32-15) by the 4:35 mark and carried a 34-19 advantage into halftime.
 
Bowie State used four Chowan turnovers to start the third quarter, trimming the deficit to 36-25 by the 5:49 mark. Back-to-back 3-pointers by junior Shawnkia McCallum pulled the Bulldogs within seven at 38-31 followed by an old fashion 3-point play by Williams cut the Hawks lead to 38-34 with 36 seconds to go in the quarter. The Bulldogs defense held the Hawks to five third quarter points but trailed 39-35 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
 
The Bulldogs were scoreless to start the fourth quarter until another Williams 3-point play narrowed the gap to 42-38 at the 6:24 mark.  Bowie State could have pulled within two but sophomore Talanya Hutton missed a pair of free throws.
 
Chowan's Mariah Coker popped a 3-pointer in front of the Hawks bench to give the home team a little breathing room at 45-38.
 
Back-to-back layups by Bowie State's Williams and Alexander trimmed the deficit to 45-42 with 2:17 remaining in the game.
 
Amel Duggins stuck a 3-pointer to tie the game at 45-all and Alexander added a free throw to give Bowie State its first lead (46-45) since the 9:19 mark of first quarter. McCallum made one of two free throws with three seconds to account for the final count of 47-45.
 
Chowan (11-3, 7-3, 1-2) was led by Coker with 12 points and Danielle Weldon fell just short of a double-double, pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with nine points. Chowan held advantages in rebounds (44-30), second chance points (12-0) and bench points (21-16).
 
The Bulldogs return to play on Wednesday (January 30th) hosting the Trojans of Virginia State at 5:30 p.m. in the A.C. Jordan Arena.