By Almeta Davis

Special to the News-Herald

The Chowan Lady Hawks, the No. 1 seed in the northern division of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, went down in defeat on Wednesday to the fifth-seeded Lincoln University Lady Lions.

Chowan lost 73-71 in its opening round of play in the basketball tournament. The game was played at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C.

Playing for the Lady Hawks were two former King’s Fork High School players. Both players, Chantel Roberts and Shaikeyla Jordan, are seniors at Chowan and play as guards for the Lady Hawks.

Roberts, a starter, got into foul trouble early in the game, resulting in her spending a lot of time on the bench. She scored six points. Jordan played longer but scored only two points.

After a slow start, Chowan was behind 18-22 at the end of the first quarter of play. They fought hard in the second quarter to take a 40-28 lead at the half.

Returning to play in the second half, the Hawks held a comfortable lead, but the Lions continued to chip away. With 5:38 remaining the third quarter, Lincoln had cut the lead to nine points. The Lions next dropped a three-pointer to cut the score to 48-42 with 4:34 left in the quarter. By the end of the quarter, the lead had been cut to just three.

For the final quarter of the game, the Hawks managed to push the lead to as high as seven points early in the quarter, but the Lions roared back and went ahead 66-65 with 3:53 left to play. Jada Lee put the Hawks ahead for the last time at 71-70 with 1:24 left in the game, but the Lions were able to pull off the win.