Cold shooting hinders Hawks in conference opener

Published 9:16 am Friday, November 25, 2022

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FLORENCE, SC – The Chowan women’s basketball team was unable to overcome the cold shooting from behind the arc in a 72-60 loss to Francis Marion in Conference Carolinas action here Tuesday evening.

Keibra Hopkins led the Hawks with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Destiny Robinson collected her second double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Aniah Patterson stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Demetria Bland posted eight points and four steals.

Chowan connected on just two of 14 shots (14.3%) from three-point range.

Despite the cold shooting night, Chowan was able to rally from a 24-15 deficit early in the second period. Two baskets each by Hopkins and Patterson sparked a rally that allowed Chowan to even the score at 27-27.

FMU regained the lead with a 7-0 run grabbing most of those points from the charity stripe en route to a 40-29 halftime lead.

Chowan did manage to get within nine of the lead (47-39) in the third quarter, but the Hawks continued to struggle from the floor, not connecting from the floor in the final five-plus minutes of the frame until Jayah King-Johnson posted a layup to close out the quarter, 53-41.

Tyaysia Sharpe connected from the floor to start the fourth quarter. Patterson added a layup on a putback to cut the deficit to 53-45 early in the frame, but foul trouble began to plaque the Hawks and FMU picked up points at the stripe to help push their advantage back to double-figures, 58-47.

Chowan (3-2 overall; 0-1 in conference play) has the holiday off to regroup as the Hawks hit the road to take on Mount Olive on Wednesday, Nov. 30. Tip-off is slated for 5 pm.