DOVER, Del. – The Howard University women's basketball team extended its win streak to five games after getting past Delaware State, 93-76, in Thursday's regular season finale at Memorial Hall.
With the win, the Bison finished the regular season ranked second in the conference at 16-12 overall and 12-4 in the MEAC. The Lady Hornets dropped to 3-26 overall and 2-14 in league action.
Howard's 16 victories is the highest win total since the 2012-13 team went 20-12. HU's 12 MEAC wins during the 2016-17 campaign are the most in conference play since the 2012-13 season (14-5).
HU's 93 points against DSU is the second-highest total this season. The Bison also made 35 field goals and attempted 74, both of which are season highs.
Redshirt junior Erin Blaine posted her third double-double with a career-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 13 rebounds. She was also 7-for-10 at the charity stripe. Rookie Sarah Edmond had a career night thanks to 21 points after going 8-for-12 from the field.
Senior Sydni Johnson and redshirt senior Te'Shya Heslip joined the duo in double figures. Johnson added 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Heslip chipped in 11 points, eight assists and seven steals. Senior Jasmine Hill just missed out on the party with nine points.
Howard outscored DSU in the paint by a 48-30 margin and notched 24 points off of the Lady Hornets' 25 turnovers. The Bison had 22 fast break points and got a helping hand with 33 points from the bench.
The second quarter was the difference maker for the Bison tonight as the team shot 81.3 percent by sinking 13 of its 16 field goal attempts during the period.
The Lady Hornets got the game started with a 9-2 run. Rookie Star Fitzgerald-Greer made consecutive trips to the charity stripe to get the score to 13-7 with 3:35 left in the first quarter. Blaine scored twice in the paint but the Bison trailed 24-15 after 10 minutes.
The momentum shifted in Howard's favor in the second quarter. Edmond and Johnson both connected from downtown, which cut the deficit to 27-21 at the 7:21 mark. Heslip dished the ball out to Hill, who banked in a triple before adding a layup to give the Bison the lead for good, 31-29. Edmond scored seven straight points to push the advantage to 38-31 with 3:03 before the break. Junior Tajzhane Dopson stole the inbounds pass and Johnson laid the ball in to close the half up 48-37.
Blaine got the and-one to count as the Bison extended their lead to 54-40 with 7:56 on the clock in the third period. DSU got the deficit down to single digits, 58-49, but it did not last long. Howard stretched the score to 63-47 after Heslip stole the ball and got it out front to a sprinting Edmond for the basket. At the end of the quarter, HU was up 67-54.
With 7:52 left in the contest, a three-pointer brought the Lady Hornets within nine but Edmond responded with a long range dagger of her own to get the score to 74-62. Hill's fast break layup opened the gap to 79-68 with 5:05 to go. Heslip nailed a three and Blaine followed it up with a mid-range jumper on the way to the final tally.
Na'Jai Pollard led DSU's double digit scorers with 26 points. Lanayjha Ashe and Aliah Stinnett had 17 and 11 points, respectively.
Howard will await seeding for the 2017 MEAC Basketball Tournament, which will take place from Mar. 6-11 at Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va.
