From the beginning of the game, it appeared as if the Lady Tigers of St. Paul’s College (5-9, 2-5 CIAA) were in control of the contest. That would be the story of the game as SPC downed Johnson C. Smith University (8-7, 3-5 CIAA) 65-56 in this afternoon’s contest.

It would take almost four minutes for JCSU to score their first points of the game courtesy of Brittany Sumpter’s two free throws. St. Paul’s scored the first seven points of the game but Smith would go on an 8-0 run to regain the lead. The lead would go back and forth for most of the first half. The Lady Tigers controlled the boards in the first stanza both offensively and defensively collecting 27 rebounds as opposed to 16 for JCSU. SPC converted those extra boards into 11 second chance points compared to two for JCSU.

Despite four of the five starters scoring in double figures, JCSU did not get much offensive productivity from their bench as the reserves did not score a bucket in the contest. The Lady Tigers on the other hand were able to tally 26 points from the bench.

Brittany Sumpter had her first double-double of the season as she led all scorers with 16 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Janai Jackson added 15 points while Tiana Pope and Rochelle Bodie contributed 12 and 10 points respectively.

The loss drops Johnson C. Smith to 8-7 overall and 3-5 in the conference. The Lady Tigers improve to 5-9 overall, 2-5 in conference play.