LIVINGSTONE HOLDS OFF VIRGINIA STATE, 67-63
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Livingstone College held off Virginia State University to take a 67-63 victory during the day's third contest of the day at the 2019 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Women's Basketball Tournament Tuesday afternoon at the Bojangles Coliseum.
Dasia Harris who was named the game's Food Lion Most Valuable Player registered an all-around effort, notching a game-high 25 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and five steals while Darra Walker scored 18 points, including 5-of-11 from the 3-point line. Adel Allen would round out the double figure for Livingstone with 13 points, four rebounds and four assists in the winning effort.
Virginia State (11-16) was led by Chrisanna Green and Yazmen Hannah who both charted 20 points apiece while Autumn Hopson added 10 points and four rebounds. Additionally, Green finished with a game-high 22 rebounds while Hannah contributed five boards as the Trojans held a 48-37 advantage on the glass in the setback.
As the winner, Livingstone (10-19) will advance to play the No. 1 seed from the North – Virginia Union University on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 4:30 p.m. inside the Bojangles Coliseum.
The Lady Blue Bears jumped out to a 6-0 run capped off by a layup from Dasia Harris at the 7:20 mark of the opening quarter. From there, Livingstone mounted a 19-9 scoring spread over the Trojans for a 25-9 lead heading into the second quarter.
Virginia State tried to rattle off the deficit early on with a jumper from Chrisanna Green but the Trojans would draw ice offensively as the Lady Blue Bears caught fire from behind the arc, drilling 4-of-8 3-pointers midway through the second quarter led by Darra Walker who registered all four for Livingstone.
While the Lady Blue Bears seemed to have had control thanks to its hot shooting from long distance, the Trojans showed gut sparked by its second basket of the quarter at the 5:11 mark on a layup from Chrisanna Green which led to a VSU's 14-1 spread as Livingstone went into the locker room with a 40-26 lead at the break.
Both teams only hit five shots in the third stanza as the Trojans trimmed at the Lady Blue Bears lead to cut it down to single digits after outscoring Livingstone 17-12 that featured 6-of-8 shooting at the charity stripe.
With a 43-52 lead in favor of Livingstone to start the fourth quarter, Virginia State's relentless effort in the last quarter got them within five points after two free throws from Tajah Clark down the stretch. On the ensuing possession and 55.5 seconds left in regulation on the game clock, LC's Dasia Harris went to the line for two where she would hit 1-of-2 for a 65-59 cushion but Autumn Hopson got an easy lay-in to keep VSU in the game with 32.5 seconds left to play.
Livingstone had a chance to put the game away but missed opportunities at the free throw line led to the Trojans going to the line for two where they would capitalize and pull within 65-63 as 17.6 second remained on the game clock. After a one-and-one session for LC at the free throw line, Hannah shot a 3-pointer that hit the corner iron before going
out of bounce that would ultimately seal the win for Livingstone.
For the contest, the Lady Blue Bears shot 42.6-percent (23-54) from the field, including 39.3-percent (11-28) from the 3-point line and 50-percent (10-20) from the free throw line while the Trojans connected 21-of-65 shots for 32.3-percent in field goals, 16.1-percent (5-31) from long distance and 16-of-23 (69.6-percent) from the charity stripe.
