Box Score

RICHMOND, VA – The Livingstone women's basketball team were unable to hold an eight-point halftime lead Monday evening as they fell to the Virginia Union University Panthers 64-55.

The opening part of the first halfL between the Blue Bears and the Panthers was made up of runs.  Livingstone came out and took the first seven points of the game in the first 2:15 followed by an 8-0 run by the Panthers in only 45 seconds to take an 8-7 advantage with 17 minutes to play in the half.

Livingstone responded to the Panther rally with their own run, this time a 6-0 spurt to go up 13-8 with 13:35 remaining in the half.  Finally, a 5-0 run by the Panthers tied the game at 13-13 with 10:40 on the clock.  After the last Panther run, the Blue Bears took control of most of the play.  Livingstone's largest lead of the half came with 2:36 to play after a three-pointer by Brittany Wright put the Blue Bears up 30-19.  Livingstone took a 33-25 lead into the break.

Junior forward Brittany Wright led the Blue Bears at the half with 13 points and also grabbed three boards.  Rashida Elbourne also added seven points to the Blue Bear cause.

The Panthers opened the second half of play on an 8-0 run which erased the Blue Bear edge.  Despite the Panther run, the Blue Bears responded and led by five at 43-38 as the clock ticked under 10 minutes remaining in the contest. 

Despite the lead at the halfway mark, Livingstone was unable to continue its positive play.  Virginia Union regained a lead of 45-44 with 6:18 to play, a lead that they didn't relinquish.  Livingstone was unable to match the shooting of the Panthers in the second half which ultimately cost them a victory.

Brittany Wright led the Blue Bears with 22 points, her highest point total of the season.  She came up one rebound short of a double-double, leading the team with nine boards.  No other Blue Bear was in double-figure scoring.

Livingstone shot 29 percent from the field including only 16 percent in the second half from the field.  Virginia Union lit up the basket in the second half hitting 52.6 percent of their shots.  Virginia Union dominated on the boards, pulling down 62 rebounds to the Blue Bears' 42.

With the loss the Blue Bears fell to 6-11 overall and 2-8 in the conference while Virginia Union improved to 4-12 overall and picked up their first CIAA victory of the season to improve to 1-12.

The Blue Bears will return home on Thursday, January 28, 2010 when they host the Shaw Bears in the first Western Division contest of the season at 5:30 p.m.