By Ed Hill, Jr.,
ORANGEBURG, S.C. (March 3, 2025) – Graduate guard Destiny Howell (Queens, N.Y.) continues to play her best basketball at just the right. The New York native had yet another outstanding game, scoring a game-high 21 points to lead four Bison in double figures as the Howard University women’s basketball team rolled to an easy 89-39 win over South Carolina State (SC State) in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) showdown inside Smith-Hammond-Middleton Gymnasium.
The win was the ninth-in-a-row for the streaking Bison, who improved to 19-9 overall (12-1 MEAC).
Howard was playing without its floor general, freshman guard Saniyah King (Washington), who sat out with an injury. King, the odds-on favorite to win MEAC Rookie of the Year, leads the conference in assists, but it did not matter.
Howell took charge early and dictated the flow of the game, tallying 10 early points to give her the advantage that they would continue throughout the game.
After missing all of last season recovering from a torn ACL, Howell had problems finding her groove that made her one of the top shooters in the nation. As of late, that has changed. The 6-foot graduate has regained the touch that proved to be an integral part of the Howard attack.
For the game, Howell connected on 6-of-10 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, while taking up the slack for King, handing out three assists and grabbing five rebounds.
With Howell proving to be so effective, it caught on with the rest of her teammates.
Junior forward Zennia Thomas (Cleveland) got into the act, scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds.
Redshirt sophomore guard Tyana Walker (Leawood, Kan.), last year’s MEAC Rookie of the Year, who has also struggled this season, has come on of late. The heir apparent to Howell finished with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and three steals.
Junior forward Nile Miller (Haddonfield, N.J.), the team’s top defender, finished with just six points, but she grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked a shot and got a steal to her credit.
And then there was graduate forward Kaiya Creek (Seat Pleasant, Md.), who has also shown flashes. She has shot the ball well and, in this game, she contributed 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 3-of-4 from the three-point line.
In all, the Bison played 12 players and each scored.
Offensively, the Bison were 9-of-16 from downtown, recording 18 assists on 28 baskets while shooting a season-best 77-percent (24-of-31) from the charity stripe.
Defensively, Howard forced the Bulldogs into 23-percent shooting from the floor (13-of-55), including 1-for-16 from the three-point line. The defense held the hosts to under double digits for the last three quarters.
The Bulldogs were led by reserve Jada Morgan with a team-high 11 points.
NEXT UP: SC State closes out the regular season in Durham, N.C., against the Eagles of North Carolina Central Thursday (March 6) at 5:30 p.m.
Howard faces a huge test when it hosts MEAC front runner Norfolk State Thursday (March 6) at 5 p.m., inside Burr Gymnasium. The Bison lost at Norfolk State earlier in the season and trail them by a game in the standings. This game is for a share of the MEAC Regular Season Title.
