RALEIGH, N.C. – The Shaw University women's basketball team opened the second half of their game against Johnson C. Smith by scoring 11 straight points, breaking open what had been a tied game at the intermission.  The Lady Bears cruised to the 71-49 win over the Lady Golden Bulls in a game played Saturday afternoon at Shaw's C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium.

With the win, Shaw remains undefeated in four games in the CIAA's Southern Division.  Overall, the Lady Bears improve to 14-6 and 8-2 in conference play.  Johnson C. Smith falls to 11-9 overall, 6-5 in the CIAA and 1-4 in division.

In all, the Lady Bears outscored JCSU 19-7 in the opening ten minutes of the second half, building a 48-34 lead. 

The Shaw defense forced 32 Lady Golden Bulls turnovers, and held them to only 31.1 percent shooting on the afternoon.   In the critical second half, the Lady Bears allowed only 22 points and 19 rebounds. 

Turnovers plagued JCSU throughout the game, as they committed 15 in the first half -- likely keeping them from building a large lead while Shaw was struggling offensively.  In the first, Shaw hit only28.6 percent from the floor, while the Lady Golden Bulls hit 37.5 percent. 

JCSU held a strong advantage on the boards in the first, pulling in 31 rebounds, to only 19 for Shaw.  In the second half, that number would flip -- 21-19 in favor of Shaw.

Early, the Lady Golden Bulls built a four-point advantage, but Shaw retook the lead, 9-8, at the 14:15 mark on a pair of free throws from Verdine Warner.

Johnson C. Smith scored the next eight, building the 16-9 lead on a layup from Karnina Bunch. 

The lead hovered around seven for a good portion of the rest of the half.  With JCSU leading 23-17, Shaw went on a seven-point run, culminating in a Micah Brooks jumper with 3:15 left in the half that gave Shaw the 24-23 lead.

The lead see-sawed between the two and with eight seconds left, Kaula Jacks hit one of two free throws to tie the contest at 27.

Shaw opened the half with the 11-point run, fueled by points from five players.  When Kamiya Burwell hit the layup on the fastbreak with 16:05 to go in the game, Shaw held a 38-27 lead.

Chelsea Faulhaber finally broke Johnson C. Smith's scoring drought, hitting a jumper with 15:42 left.

After Faulhaber hit a layup to trim Shaw's lead to eight, the Lady Bears responded with a seven-point run, punctuated by a long three from Ariel Hatcher that gave Shaw a 46-31 lead with 10:41 left.

Four minutes later, Diamond Mitchell hit a layup on the fastbreak off a pass from Burwell that pushed the Shaw lead to 20. 

Shaw would extend that lead to 26 with 3:37 left in the game when Nicole Dias got a tip in to give Shaw a 69-43 lead. 

JCSU would close out the game on a 6-2 run, setting the final as a 71-49 win for the Lady Bears.

Jacks and Hatcher finished the game with 16 points apiece.  Warner had nine rebounds and Mitchell and Burwell had six assists apiece to lead the Lady Bears.

Faulhaber was the leading scorer with ten points for the Lady Golden Bulls.  Ashley Porter had 12 rebounds and Deanna Downer four assist to pace their squad.

The Lady Bears return to action Wednesday evening as they travel to Fayetteville State for a 5:30 p.m. tip in a game that was rescheduled from last week.  They return home February 8 when they host Livingstone at 2:00 p.m.