ORANGEBURG, SC – South Carolina State used balanced scoring and one of its best shooting performances of the season to earn a hard-fought 72-63 win over visiting Howard Saturday in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Rhein Beamon tossed in 16 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with just over one minute to play, Kemoni Jenkins added 15 and Kyesha Lewis came off the bench for 11 points in the victory, which leveled the SC State record at 9-9 overall and 2-2 in the MEAC.

Dashanique Peterson contributed nine points and six rebounds, and Taylor Brown eight points, along with an equal number of rebounds. Jaquanna Murray, in foul trouble most of the contest, chipped in seven points and five boards for the Lady Bulldogs.

Howard, one of the top women's teams in the MEAC, was led by Krislyn Marsh with 16 points and eight rebounds but she was only 4-11 from the free throw line, where the Lady Bison as a team made just 14-35 attempts. Ayonna Williams was also in double figures for Howard with 15 points. The Lady Bison fell to 10-8 and 3-2 in league games.

SC State, in one of its best-shooting outings of the campaign, connected on 50 percent (27-54) of its shots from the field, including a blistering 63.6 percent (7-11) in the final period in which Coach Audra Smith's team outscored the Lady Bison 20-12 to pull away for the win.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of this team and our effort in this win this afternoon," said an exhausted but elated Smith. "We got a balanced effort from our team and some solid play from our bench which we really needed. But, the real key was that we executed our offense, we ran our sets and showed patience.

"With (starting point guard Jakayvea) Akins ailing, we've asked Rhein (Beamon) to do so much at point guard and she responded with 16 points, Kemoni (Jenkins) did a good job of penetrating and getting some easy baskets, and Peterson and Lewis came off the bench to provide some scoring and a good effort on the boards."
Despite the win, however, Smith said her team had a lot of room for improvement.

"Taylor (Brown) didn't have her usual night but still gave us 8 and 8, we gave up 25 offensive rebounds and we were only 13-18 from the free throw line. We have to do better on the boards, something we talk about all the time, and we must improve at the free throw line. But I'm proud of the effort of our team."

SC State fell behind 17-10 midway the opening period before closing to within 21-17 after one quarter. The Lady Bulldogs got things going in the second period, outscoring the visitors 21-13 to take a 38-34 lead at the half.

Howard won the third quarter 17-14 to pull to with 52-51 after three, then scored the first five points of the final period to take a 56-52 advantage with 8:15 to play. But Jenkins nailed a 3-pointer with the shot clocking running down and canned a layup to ignite an 11-2 run that put the host ahead 63-58 with 3:32 to play.

The visitors cut the gap to three with 2:22 left and was down just 67-63 when Beamon connected on a corner 3-pointer to push the SC State advantage to 70-63 with just 1:08 on the clock. The Lady Bulldogs, who made 7-11 shots from the field in the quarter, scored the final two points from the free throw line for the final margin.

SC State returns to action Monday when they host Norfolk State in the first game of a league doubleheader beginning at 5:30 p.m.
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