RALEIGH, N.C. — The Shaw Lady Bears used a 28-13 first half run to pull away from Lincoln (Pa.), winning 80-48 in a game played Monday night at C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium. 

The win is the Lady Bears' fifth straight as they improve to 13-2 overall and 5-1 in the CIAA. The Lady Lions fall to 6-10 overall and 2-4 in the CIAA.

Shaw picked up the win despite not having two key players in their lineup. The Lady Bears were without point guard Diamond Mitchell and shooting guard Kearah Jeffreys, who were both out nursing injuries.

"It was a good win," said Shaw head coach Jacques Curtis. "We were shorthanded tonight and at times, it really showed. Still, we got up and down like we wanted to. We wanted to be a little more up-tempo tonight. We are satisfied with the effort and with the win tonight. We feel like we are coming along, we just need to be able to get these players back."

A trio of Lady Bears scored in double figures to lead them to the victory. Ronika Ransford, who played a game-high 34 minutes, led all scorers with 18 points to go along with her seven rebounds and five assists. Sequoyah Griffin added 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting while Adana David contributed 10 points and nine rebounds in the victory.

The Lady Bears won the battle of the boards, outrebounding Lincoln 64-46. Crystal Gordon, despite finishing with just two points, snagged down 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Bears on the glass.

Defensively, the Lady Bears limited the Lady Lions to just 20.3 percent shooting on the night. The Lady Lions were just 14-of-69 from the floor and were 3-of-18 from three-point land for just 16.7 percent.

"We were trying to be aggressive and make them shoot the ball a little bit quicker than they wanted to," said Curtis. "We came out in our third team defense and incorporated a little bit more trapping. I think we can get really get after it. We are trying to develop that part of our game as we move into division play."

Both teams traded buckets in the early going as neither one was able to get more than a five-point lead in the first six minutes of the contest. At the 13:38 mark of the first half, the Lady Bears held a 13-9 lead before closing out the first half on a 28-13 run to pull away from the Lady Lions.  

The run started when Shaw's Crystal Harris converted a layup seven seconds later. Taylor Dalrymple sank a pair of free throws at the 11:27 mark of the first half to push Shaw's lead to 17-9. With 11:04 remaining in the period, Shaw's Chelsey Pinkstaff buried a three-pointer to push Shaw's lead to 10.

Over the next five minutes, both teams went cold shooting the ball. The next field goal didn't come until the 6:03 mark of the first period when Adana David pushed the Lady Bears back to a 10-point margin (24-14) thanks to a successful layup.

Lincoln's Cynthia Johnson brought the Lady Lions back within eight after driving the lane and converting on a layup. The Lady Bears built a 25-16 lead after David went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe with 5:13 left.

Dalrymple, who finished with eight points in the win, received a nice bounce pass from Ransford underneath the basket to put the Lady Bears up 29-17 with 4:12 left in the frame. At the 3:37 mark, Johnson scored on a layup to bring the Lady Lions within 10 at 29-19.

After that, the Lady Bears closed out the first half on a 12-3 run, capped off with a three-pointer from the left wing by Griffin with 56.2 seconds remaining. For the game, Griffin was 3-of-4 from three-point territory.

In the final three minutes of the first period, the Lady Bears sank just three field goals and converted 5-of-8 from the free throw line to build their big halftime lead.

The Lady Bears shot 41.4 percent in the first half, going 12-of-29 from the floor. They were 14-of-23 from the free throw line in the half, which came out to a 60.9 percent rate. Defensively, Shaw limited Lincoln to just six field goals in the first half. The Lady Lions were 6-of-28 from the floor for 21.4 percent.

The hot shooting and strong defense carried over into the second half for the Lady Bears, who outscored the Lady Lions 24-10 through the first 12 minutes of the period.

The Lady Lions opened the second half on a 5-0 run, cutting it to 41-27 at the 18:47 mark of the period. Over the next seven minutes, the Lady Bears answered with another run, this one an 18-3 spurt, to build a 59-30 lead with 10:51 remaining in the game.

Another three-pointer by Griffin with 7:07 remaining put the Lady Bears up 70-34. Griffin, who was all alone in the left wing, received a nice pass from David and buried the bucket. The 36-point cushion would be equaled again after a pair of free throws from Griffin with 5:54 remaining, to make it 72-36.

Freshman Jessica Anderson received another nice dish from Ransford as she buried a three-pointer from the right wing that gave the Lady Bears a 75-38 lead with 5:11 remaining in the contest. The 37-point margin was Shaw's largest lead of the evening.

Back-to-back buckets by Kennay Fleming put the Lady Bears up 80-44 with 1:41 remaining. A bucket by Lincoln's Paige Phillips with eight seconds left made it 80-48, which would be the final score of the contest.

Lincoln was led by Alaysia Washington, who finished with 11 points. Zephrah Pam finished with just four points but had a game-high 16 rebounds.

The Lady Bears will take the rest of this week off before returning to action on Saturday afternoon when they continue their home stand. The Lady Bears will host Livingstone at C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.  

story by Ryan Sarda