The Women’s Basketball Team defeated Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers, a University in Maryland,  in their first home game of the season on Wednesday.

Despite news breaking of senior guard and preseason Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference ‘Player of the Year,’ Destiny Howell missing the season due to an injury and losing their first game against George Washington University, the Lady Bison were still able to show up big in the opener. 

Perseverance allowed them to challenge the Mountaineers defensively making it a 19-point game eventually leading to a 58-39 win. 

Head Coach Ty Grace was able to share some insights on her team’s victory against Mount St. Mary’s. “I felt like we didn’t come out really strong against the game on Monday. But tonight we came out ready and we set the tone of the game”, she reflected. 

Howard started the game with a full-court press putting the pressure on Mount St. Mary’s early on. Redshirt freshman guard, Tyana Walker led the Lady Bison with nine points helping establish an 18-11 lead in the first quarter. The Mountaineers struggled to break the press and when broken, the Lady Bison still managed to capitalize on the press forcing the Mountaineers into an 8-of-21 shooting from the floor. 

“We like to press, we like to get after people, and have them turn the ball over and it worked today. Mount St. Mary’s had a difficult time getting the ball. We had some good turnovers in the first half so I was really proud of our press today”, said Coach Grace. 

Fifth-year guard Iyanna Warren set the tone by holding off the Mountaineers halftime approached. The Mountaineers came back starting the third quarter with full force establishing a 7-0 run, taking the lead for the first time in the game making the score 29-28 with seven minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter. 

The Lady Bison approached the bench ready to respond to the Mountaineers. Coach Ty sent the team back out, executing a 10-4 run and taking the lead back from Mount St. Mary’s. 

As the game continued, the Lady Bison played one of their best fourth quarters in recent history, holding Mount St. Mary’s scoreless the entire fourth quarter. Howard dominated with sophomore forward Nile Miller ending the night with 14 points and with Freshman and fifth-year guards Janyah Bohanon and Iyanna Warren both racking up nine points. 

"I was happy with our bench play," Grace commented. "It made a statement that they were ready to play and everyone stepped up. Janyah is very talented, but still learning and growing. I'm proud of how she's responding after being thrown into the fire.”

What a great way to kick off the 50th Anniversary of the Howard Women’s Basketball team program at home. 

“Being apart from something with so much momentum is important to us and the program and being apart from a legacy of fifty years is something that these young ladies are gonna remember forever, because they're gonna be a part of that when they graduate. I think that’s something that we’re gonna talk about the whole year and have all the alumni come around and just be a part of that is gonna be a great year for us”, said Coach Grace.