WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Howard University women's basketball team's four seniors accounted for 54 points in a 71-40 victory over Maryland Eastern Shore on Senior Night in Burr Gymnasium.
The Bison jumped to 15-12 overall and 11-4 in the MEAC, while the Hawks dropped to 12-14 overall and 6-9 in the conference.
It was the final time that Erin Blaine, Jasmine Hill, Te'Shya Heslip and Sydni Johnson would take the court together in The Burr.
Johnson paced the squad with a game-high 17 points and five rebounds. Blaine finished the night with 14 points and six boards, while Hill tallied 14 points and five rebounds. Heslip rounded out the quartet with nine points.
Freshman Sarah Edmond scored seven points, handed out three assists and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, all on the defensive end. Classmate Danielle Griffin had a game-best three blocks.
Howard shot 41 percent (25-61) from the floor and 66.7 percent at the charity stripe (16-24). On the other hand, MDES had a 20.6 percent (14-68) field goal percentage and was only 5-for-25 from beyond the arc for a 20 percent clip. Both are season-low totals by an HU opponent.
Howard got the job done on defense, especially in the second quarter as it only allowed a single point. It is the lowest point total in a quarter by an opponent this season. At the time, the Hawks were 0-for-16 from the field and 0-for-9 from beyond the arc.
Howard opened the game up 5-2 but Eastern Shore used an 8-0 run to get out to a 10-5 lead at 4:48. Johnson hit a triple to get within six before Heslip ran the length of the court for a tough layup to end the first quarter down 18-14.
The second quarter was all about Howard. The Bison held the Hawks to just one point over 10 minutes to cap off a 14-1 run. Junior Tajzhane Dopson fed Johnson the ball down low for a layup and Edmond delivered a doozy from downtown to push HU's advantage to 21-18. Eastern Shore scored its only point of the period on a free throw at the 1:16 mark. The home team had a 26-19 edge at the break.
At 7:16 in the third period, Eastern Shore ended its 14:19 without a field. During that time, Howard went on a 23-2 run. Heslip converted the three-point play to put the Bison ahead 35-24. Howard extended its lead to 44-28 on back-to-back three-pointers from Johnson with 2:18 on the clock. The Bison headed into the fourth quarter up 50-28 on the Hawks.
With 5:16 remaining in the game, Hill's and-one increased the lead to 59-35. The Bison refused to slow down as a jumper by rookie Jayla Myles gave the squad its largest lead of the contest, 69-39. Hill tallied seven of Howard's final 13 points for the 71-40 win.
For the game, the Hawks had 18 points in the first quarter but only 22 points over the final 30 minutes. During three quarters, MDES was 7-of-52 from the floor and 1-of-17 in three-pointers.
Alexus Hicks led Eastern Shore with 11 points and nine rebounds, followed by Moengaroa Subritzky with 10 points.
The Bison will close out the regular season on the road against Delaware State on Thursday, Mar. 2 at 5:30 p.m.
