Columbia, MD - The Howard women's basketball team won in dramatic fashion for the second consecutive game, thrilling the huge crowd to an exciting 83-80 upset victory.

The high powered Chesapeake Skipjacks came into the game with a 15-3 record with all three losses coming against nationally ranked opponents and were 8-1 in the conference.

Chesapeake jumped out early with Janaya Peterson hitting long range shots on her way to a 20 point game. Combined with forward Brooke Worrell in the paint adding 20 points of her own, the Skipjacks took a 40-30 lead into halftime. 

Howard started to really come alive in the third quarter as Brianna Jones (Largo, MD/Largo) scored 16 of her 32 points in the period with Ashlyn McInerney (Hyattsville, MD/Hammond) adding 10 in that same time period to close the gap to six. The Dragons continued to be within striking range throughout the fourth quarter, but still saw themselves down by five with two minutes left.

Once again it was McInerney who came through with a huge three pointer as she scored 26 points including six from long range. McInerney followed that up a minute later with a steal and fast break layup to tie the game. Peterson was able to knock down a couple free throws to regain the lead for the Skipjacks, but Jones answered with a hoop and harm three-point play to give Howard their first lead of the game at 81-80 with 32 seconds left. Chesapeake went on to miss a couple of free throws as well as a three point shot at the buzzer to hold on for the victory.

In addition to the star power of Jones with a double-double (32 points, 11 rebounds) and the scoring prowess of McInerney, Ciara Little (New Haven, CT/James Hillhouse) was welcomed back into the lineup and shined with 14 points, four assists and four steals.

Howard will get a little time off before hosting a beleaguered Northern Virginia side on February 5 at 5 PM.