NORFOLK, VA --- The inability to maintain a strong start once again doomed the Howard women's basketball team as the Lady Bison fell to the Old Dominion Lady Monarchs, 75-54, on Wednesday morning at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

Redshirt sophomore guard Te'Shya Heslip scored a game-high 25 points while sophomore forward Sydni Johnson added 10 points for Howard (0-7). Heslip's game was her second of the season with 20 or more points, her sixth 20+ point game of her career and her third double digit effort in a row. Johnson notched her first double-double of the year and third of her career in her third game back from injury.

The record sellout crowd of 8,472 -  comprised mostly of Norfolk public school students in attendance for ODU's 4th annual Education Day - saw Howard (0-7) open the game extremely welll.

Howard went shot for shot with ODU (4-2) for the first part of the opening half, forcing four ties and holding a 19-15 lead with 11:03 left in the period. Johnson led the charge for the Lady Bison, scoring eight of her 10 points in that stretch.

The Lady Monarchs, led by Jennie Sims, retaliated with a 23-6 run to end the half with a 38-25. The surge started with Simms scoring six points as part of an 11-0 burst. The Lady Bison offense struggled to return to its opening form in the second half, never cutting their deficit to less than 10 points.

Head Coach Tennille Adams, while not satisified, saw good things from a Lady Bison team still playing below full strength (sophomore guard Jasmine Hill returned to the lineup but junior center Victoria Gonzales missed the game after getting injured vs Wyoming) and entering a raucous road environment - the largest ever for a ODU women's game.

"I thought the biggest thing for us coming in was one, compete with ODU, and two, compete with a couple thousand screaming little kids, and I think we were able to do that," Adams said. "I think that the atmosphere was electric. I think that our young ladies stepped up and played in that type of environment, and that's what I wanted to see."

"If there's any competitiveness in you, it's something that you feed off of," Adams said. "It was good for us, because I really did want to see how we would hold up against that. I wanted a uniform. I wanted to get out there and play. It was exciting and I was glad to be a part of that."

NEXT UP: Howard will look to cash in its non-conference experience for a pair of early Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) wins. The Lady Bison will host North Carolina A&T at 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 6 and North Carolina Central