Women's Basketball | 1/7/2015 8:29:00 PM

Box Score ITHACA, NY --- Redshirt sophomore guard Te'Shya Heslip scored a team-high 18 points and sophomore forward Sydni Johnson added 11 but it would not be enough as the Howard women's basketball team lost its sixth straight game, a 75-56 defeat to the Cornell University Big Red on Wednesday evening at Newman Arena.

Heslip shot 7-of-11 from the floor and filled up the stat sheet with seven assists, six rebounds and five steals. Johnson went 5-of-7 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds.

Junior center Victoria Gonzales chipped in nine points in the losing effort.

The final non-conference defeat dropped Howard (1-14) to 0-13 for the season against non-league competition, the first time the Lady Bison failed to win a game against an out-of-conference opponent since the 2006-07 season.

The way Howard opened the first half, achieving that dubious mark would be extremely difficult.

Howard and Cornell (9-5) alternated scoring the first four baskets before the Lady Bison nearly doubled up the Big Red, outscoring the home team 17-9 over a 6:41 span to take a 21-13 lead with 10:34 remaining.

Cornell fought back thanks to a 14-2 run over the next 5:27 to take a 27-23 lead at the 2:51 mark. Heslip would score a pair of baskets to end the half and bring HU back even, 27-27.

Howard would tie the game against at 33-all at the 17:26 mark but would never lead in the contest again. Howard struggled in the second half due to an increase in turnovers (six to 14) and a lack of rebounding (Cornell grabbed three times as many rebounds - 21 to seven).

The loss for Howard negated a 40 percent (23-of-57) shooting night and the team's best free throw performance of the season (90.9 percent; 10-of-11). As a team, the Lady Bison shot 0-of-9 from three point range, the first time this season Howard failed to hit a three pointer in a game.

Cornell's Nia Marshall led the Big Red with 33 points and 13 rebounds.

NEXT UP: Howard will take on Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference competition the rest of the way, starting with a home matchup against Coppin State on Saturday, January 10 at 2 p.m. The game against the Lady Eagles will be the first game of a league doubleheader - the Men's team plays at 4 p.m.