FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Shaw University women's basketball team hit only 29 percent of their shots from the floor as they lost to Fayetteville State 74-58 in a game played Wednesday night at FSU's Capel Arena.

The loss is the first for Shaw in the CIAA's Southern Division, and gives FSU a one-game lead in the division race.  Shaw falls to 14-7 overall, 8-3 in the CIAA and 4-1 in the division.  Fayetteville State improves to 16-4, 9-2 in the conference and a perfect 5-0 in the division.

The Lady Bears outshot FSU in the first half, 35-3 percent to 31.3 percent and held a double-digit lead midway through the first.  FSU cut that lead to one by the half, and turned things around in the second, outshooting Shaw 45.9 percent to only 23.3 percent for the Lady Bears.

Shaw scored only 26 points in the second half, making only seven field goals during the period.  The margin would have been greater if not for the 11 free throws (out of 17 attempts) that the Lady Bears hit in the second.

FSU won the game in the paint, scoring 46 points in the lane compared to only 20 for Shaw .

Shaw exploded to any early lead, taking a 7-2 advantage with less than two minutes gone on a three pointer from Diamond Mitchell.

The Lady Bears slowly extended the lead, hitting double digits when Kamiya Burwell sank a three to give Shaw a 17-7 lead with 11:43 left in the first.

Fayetteville State chipped away at the lead twice, but Shaw would answer with a small run.  With 6:57 showing on the clock, Verdine Warner hit a jumper to give the Lady Bears a 26-14 lead.

The Lady Broncos answered with six straight points, culminating with a layup from Bria Robinson.  Kaula Jacks extended the Shaw lead back to eight with a layup of her own, but FSU again ran off six straight, trimming the Shaw lead to two at 28-26 with 1:43 left in the first.

Burwell hit a pair of free throws to extend the Shaw lead back to four, but with time expiring, Akysia Resper found JeLena Robertson on the perimeter and she sank the three to trim the Shaw lead to only one at the half, 32-31.

The Lady Broncos took their first lead of the game just seconds into the second half as Deja Middleton tipped in a Robertson miss.

Shaw answered with four straight, including a three-point play by Warner, to recapture the lead at 36-33 with 18:39 left.

The two teams exchanged the lead, and finally, with 15:20 left, tied on a free throw from FSU's Amber Calvin.  The point was the first of what would become seven straight as FSU claimed the lead, and never let Shaw back in.

With 7:29 left, Robertson hit a pair of free throws to give the Lady Broncos a 56-46 lead.  Shaw then made a five-point run, cutting the FSU lead to only five when Burwell hit a three with 6:47 left on the clock.

The momentum died there, though, as the Lady Broncos responded by scoring ten straight points, lengthening their lead to 66-51 on a layup from Calvin.  Shaw would not get the lead back under double digits the rest of the way.

The teams all but exchanged buckets the rest of the way, with FSU closing out the game on an 8-7 advantage giving them the 74-58 win.

Burwell finished the game as the Lady Bears' leading scorer with 15 points.  Warner tallied a double-double of 12 points and ten rebounds.  Jacks had 11 points and a team-leading seven assists.

Middleton topped all scorers and rebounders with an impressive double-double of 21 points and 16 boards.  Robertson finished with 19 points, Calvin had 11 and Bria Robinson had ten.  Resper paced the Lady Broncos with seven assists.

The Lady Bears return to action Saturday when they host Livingstone at 2:00 p.m.