[Murfreesboro, NC] - Three Lady Bears had double-doubles to help power Shaw past homestanding Chowan 75-67.  The Lady Bears rallied from a half time deficit to bring home the win.

Aslea Williams had 15 points and ten rebounds, Kyria Buford 12 points and 14 boards, and Crystal Harris had 16 points and 14 rebounds. 

In addition to the three players with double-doubles, Shaw had another - Tanner - come within two points of the feat, with eight points and 11 rebounds.  The Lady Bears outrebounded Chowan 62-40, including 29 offensive rebounds.  Despite the inside presence on the offensive end, the Lady Bears had only 11 second chance points.

With the win, the Lady Bears improve to 8-5 on the season, 4-0 in the CIAA.  The Hawks drop to 6-8 on the year, 1-3 in the conference.

The Lady Bears struggled to find a shooting touch throughout the first half, hitting only 27.8 percent in the period. 

"Missing was a concentration issue," said Shaw assistant coach Ashante Timoll.  "That was the issue in this game for us.  We weren't making the chip shots."

She continued, "We needed to get after it defensively.  We needed to turn it up a notch and we finally were able to once we got the lead.  We had a number of opportunities to take the lead but we always seemed to miss the shot or turn it over.  Once we took the lead, we were fine."

After both teams struggled offensively in the opening minutes of the game, Chowan scored four straight points to build a 14-9 lead with 15:21 left on the clock in the first.

Shaw battled back and cut the lead to only two on Brittany Ransom's jumper which set the score at 17-15.  The Hawks then reeled off seven straight points to rebuild their lead to 24-14 with 10:36 left on the clock.  It would be another ten minutes before Chowan would score another field goal.  In that time, though, they sank eight free throws to hold the Lady Bears at bay.

During the Hawk field goal drought, Shaw closed the gap and, with 4:10 left in the half, Buford hit a layup to tie the score at 28-all.

The Hawks retook the lead, and extended it to three when Talaya Lynch finished a fastbreak with a layup with just seconds left in the half.  The teams went to the locker room with Chowan up 34-31 at the half.

Chowan opened the second by upping their lead to six points with 17:17 left in the game.  But Shaw then went on a 16-1 scoring run, culminating in a Victoria Tanner jumper that gave the Lady Bears a 49-40 lead - a lead they would never relinquish. 

The Hawks would cut the lead to seven points four times in the final minutes, and with 36 seconds left on the clock Naima Harrington sank a pair of free throws that cut the Shaw margin to only six.  But as Chowan fouled to stop the clock, the Lady Bears hit three free throws in the last 19 seconds to seal the 75-67 victory.

Lynch finished the game leading all scorers with 27 points and she also pulled in ten rebounds for a double-double of her own.  Janelle Murphy added another 12.  Summer Curtis had nine blocks on the afternoon and nine rebounds.  Ransheda Jennings paced both squads with four assists.

The Lady Bears return home on Thursday, January 19 when they host Lincoln (PA).  Game time Thursday is at 5:30 p.m. at the C. C. Spaulding Gymnasium on the Shaw campus.