CHOWAN RALLIES FROM 19-POINT DEFICIT TO STORM PAST LIVINGSTONE

CHOWAN RALLIES FROM 19-POINT DEFICIT TO STORM PAST LIVINGSTONE

Lynch’s double-double leads Hawks to 56-53 victory in opening round

CHARLOTTE, NC – Even with just six points to her team’s credit 10 minutes into the game, Najah Harris and the Chowan Hawks didn’t feel ready to go home.

And when they were down by 19 points late in the first half, they still didn’t feel ready to pack their bags.

And after a brilliant second half, they won’t have to.

Chowan rallied from a 19-point deficit in the first half and a 17-point deficit in the second half to storm past the fifth-seeded team from the Southern Division, Livingstone, 56-53, in the opening round of the CIAA Women’s Tournament on Monday.

Talaya Lynch buried back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute of the first half to bring the Hawks (5-12) within 13 points at the break on her way to a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. And Harris, who was emphatic in the team’s huddle about the Hawks’ chances to pulling off the comeback, scored eight of her 11 points to fuel a 14-2 run that brought Chowan back into the game, down just 39-35 with 12:17 remaining in the game.

“The main thing was we just didn’t want to go home,” said Lynch, who helped Chowan to its first victory in the CIAA Tournament in the program’s history. “It was ‘Let’s keep fighting. Let’s keep going.’ When there was 10 minutes left in the first half, we didn’t want to go home. And when there was 10 minutes left in the second half, we didn’t want to go home. And when there was five minutes left, all we said was that we’re not going home.”

Jennings added 13 points and seven rebounds for Chowan while Jasmine Murray led Livingstone with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Brittany Wright and Rashida Elbourne had 10 points apiece.

Even after Lynch’s two 3s late in the first half, it appeared as though Livingstone would survive. The Lady Blue Bears (16-10) picked up four quick points in succession to start the second half and regained a 17-point advantage.

But then Harris was able to connect on two foul shots and two quick 3s, and after Ransheda Jennings picked off a pass following Harris’ second 3, she fired a nifty pass to an open Brittany Nicholson underneath the basket to pull Chowan within four.

Livingstone’s Wright, an All-CIAA selection, answered with a layup and two foul shots to make it 43-37 with 8:53 to go.

But Chowan kept the pressure on. Lynch, an All-CIAA selection after earning Rookie of the Year honors a year ago, made two foul shots and Jennings buried a 3, giving the Hawks their first lead, 44-43, with 6:23 remaining. A Danielle Coleman layup pushed the edge to 46-43 with 5:44 left as the Hawks outscored Livingstone 25-6 after falling behind by 17 with 17:42 to go in the game.

Livingstone retook the lead, 47-46, when Wright scored four straight points with 4:42 left, but Jennings gave Chowan the lead for good when she hit a 3 with 3:51 remaining for a 49-47 Hawks’ advantage.

Livingstone jumped out to a huge advantage early, starting the game by scoring the first nine points. Chowan didn’t score until Jennings slipped in a leaner at the 14:53 mark of the first half.

But that didn’t stem the Blue Bears’ tide. Elbourne buried her second 3-pointer and Livingstone built a 14-3 advantage with 13 minutes to go in the opening period.

Chowan had just six points at the 10-minute mark of the half, and still trailed 19-8 with 7:36 to go. The Blue Bears seemed ready to take complete control of the game from there, using a 12-2 spurt to take their largest lead, 29-10, with 4:37 left in the half.

But Chowan, which misfired on 20 of its first 25 shot attempts, rallied with Lynch’s 3s in the half’s final minute as the Hawks scored the final six points of the period to get back into the game and trail 33-20 at the break.

“I thought those 3s at the end of the half were really big for us,” said Chowan coach Patrick Mashuda. “We went into the half with a lot of energy after that.”

Livingstone, though, came out and quickly scored the first foul points of the second half, with Montiya Harrison making a tough fadeaway jumper, banking it off the glass to give the Blue Bears a 37-20 lead barely 2 minutes into the half.

It wasn’t enough to keep Livingstone from leaving the tournament after the first round for the third straight season.

“This is the third time that we’ve lost in the first round, all by three points,” said Livingstone coach Angelyne Brown. “I thought we’d gotten over the hump. I thought we got away from what got us our 19-point lead. We kind of got away from how we got that lead, going inside.

“Certainly this is a setback for us in terms of moving to the next level.”

Chowan, the No. 4 seed from the North, with face Southern Division champion Johnson C. Smith at 9 p.m. on Tuesday in the second round.