WASHINGTON (January 20, 2018) – Coach Ty Grace and the Howard University Women's Basketball team soared past North Carolina Central (NCCU), 69-54, and earned their third straight win inside Burr Gymnasium.
 
"I thought we came out a little flat today," Grace stated. "We've had a rough couple of days in practice and that correlates to how you play in a game. But we had slots where we picked it up defensively and we had some good scoring from Ayonna Williams, so that helped us early on."
 
Four Bison (7-11, 3-2 MEAC) reached double figures, led by Williams with 16 points.
 
"Ayanna's [Williams] been playing well the last couple of games and she's been playing really good basketball in terms of picking up the energy level and tempo of the game in terms of scoring," said Grace. "She was a scorer coming out of high school so that's her mentality when she steps in the game."
 
Fellow classmate Jayla Myles recorded her first double-double of the season, posting 14 boards (game-high) and 11 points in the victory.
 
N.C. Central's Jayla Calhoun made a layup and gave the Eagles a one-point advantage at the 8:39 mark in the third, 32-31. HU responded with a 17-5 run, capped off by a trey ball from sophomore Sarah Edmond, 48-36. After three, the Bison held a 10-point lead, 52-42.
 
In the fourth, Howard clamped down on the defensive end and pounded the Eagles inside. Nearly midway through the fourth, Williams' fast break layup gave the Bison its largest lead of the game, 62-43.
 
Edmond scored 12 points while senior Tajzhane Dopson added 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
"Sarah [Edmond] is another one of our other primary scorers," Grace explained. "She'll have a rough shooting night every once in a while, like she had tonight, but she finds time to hit at the right moments. Taj [Dopson] has been consistent the last four games as well. That's the type of contribution we need from our guards."
 
Second-year forward Imani Bryant grabbed 10 boards off the bench.
 
Trailing after one, 17-13, Williams scored on a fast break layup and gave the Bison its first lead with 7:56 remaining before the break, 18-17.
 
Both clubs went back-and-forth for the next five minutes. NCCU's Kieche White connected on a long ball and put the Eagles ahead, 26-25, but Howard answered and took the lead at intermission, 29-28.
 
NCCU (5-13, 3-2 MEAC) was held under 28-percent (18-of-65) from the field, including 25-percent (3-of-12) from long range. Rodneysha Martin was the lone Eagle to reach double figures with a game-high 20 points.
 
Both squads will meet again on Feb. 19 in Durham, N.C.
 
Monday (Jan. 22), Howard hosts North Carolina A&T State inside The Burr. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m.
 
"We're facing A&T, a high caliber team, and they're a little bit bigger than [N.C.] Central so we need to be ready to rebound and be ready for some pressure," Grace continued. "[We need] to be ready for them to score a little bit more on us than what [N.C.] Central was able to do today."

Monday is Organization Night where the first 300 students get pizza. All organizations are invited to come out and support the Bison.
 
For more information, visit the Bison Athletics website at www.HUBison.com.