Columbia, MD – The #3 seed Dragons were able to avenge a 25 point regular season loss as they crushed the #6 seed Southern Maryland Hawks 60-40 in the quarterfinals of the Region 20 Division II tournament. With the win, the Howard Community College women's basketball team has secured a 20 win season for the first time in program history.
Learning from their lessons in the previous meeting between the two teams, the Dragons played phenomenal defense from start to finish as they closed down the Southern Maryland shooters as they held the Hawks to 16% shooting from the floor. Meanwhile Howard had a hard time finding their outside shooting touch, but 36 points in the paint thrusted the Dragons to victory along with out-rebounding the Hawks 71-43.
The big three of
Brianna Jones (Largo, MD/Largo),
Kyrstin Bowen (Westminster, MD/Mount Airy Christian), and
Mia McCormick (Philadelphia, PA/River Hill) all recording double-doubles in the game. Jones led the way with 17 points and 16 rebounds, McCormick had 13 points and 14 rebounds with five steals, and Bowen chipped in 13 points along with 10 rebounds and five blocks.
Ashlyn McInerney (Hyattsville, MD/Hammond) scored seven points and
Ciara Little (New Haven, CT/James Hillhouse) led the team with four assists.
Howard will move onto the semifinals on Saturday, March 7 where they will face the #2 seeded Chesapeake Skipjacks at 3 PM. The Dragons won the regular season contest on January 31 as they upset the Skipjacks 83-80 in a game where Jones and McInerney combined to score 58 points.
