North East, MD - Needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Dragons came through with a huge victory as Howard defeated Cecil 59-55.

With the Dragons down 15-10 after a tough first quarter, Shanta Johnson (Upper Marlboro, MD/Suitland) splashed a three pointer to cut the deficit out of the gates in the second period. Howard was able to tie the game up at 24-24 late in the second quarter before a Cecil three pointer gave the Seahawks a lead going into the halftime break.

Back to back layups by Sabreen Muslim (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore City College) and Cassandra Padellford (Truckee, CA/Truckee) tied the game up early in the third quarter, but the Seahawks responded with a 14-0 run to seemingly put the game out of reach. The Dragons roared back after that as Mia McCormick (Philadelphia, PA/River Hill) scored the basket and the foul for a three point play. Zulekha Karachiwalla (Marriottsville, MD/Marriotts Ridge) made a layup at the buzzer to end the third quarter with Howard on an 11-0 run.

The fourth quarter started with Muslim dominating the paint with back to back layups with the latter being a three point play followed by an Ashlyn McInerney (Hyattsville, MD/Hammond) long range basket to give the Dragons their first lead of the game since three minutes into the contest. Similarly to their previous game, Muslim fouled out midway through the fourth quarter on an offensive foul. Karachiwalla fouled out two minutes later making the Dragons dangerously thin with Howard ahead 56-51.

Cecil charged back with a couple of baskets to make it a one point Dragons lead and under a minute to play with the Seahawks controlling the ball, but a critical steal by Johnson forced Cecil to foul McCormick who made one of two free throws to double the lead. A missed Cecil shot was rebounded by Johnson and Cecil once again fouled McCormick who again made one free throw. Cecil was unable to get a potential game tying shot off and the Dragons were able to hold on for the victory.

Muslim led the team once again with 20 points and 17 rebounds while Padellford snagged a career high 17 rebounds along with nine points and five steals. McInerney scored 12 points and McCormick added 11 to the cause.

With the win, Howard moves up to 10th in the conference at 2-7 with another must win game against Anne Arundel (6-11, 3-7 Md Juco) looming on Wednesday, January 30 at 5 PM in the Dragons Lair.