{"id":3591,"date":"2026-03-12T18:42:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/?p=3591"},"modified":"2026-03-12T18:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:42:19","slug":"howard-women-advance-to-meac-semifinals-after-75-43-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/howard-women-advance-to-meac-semifinals-after-75-43-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard Women Advance to MEAC Semifinals After 75\u201343 Win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top-seeded Howard University women\u2019s basketball continued its strong postseason push Wednesday, defeating South Carolina State 75\u201343 in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference<\/a> (MEAC) Tournament at Norfolk Scope Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bison, who entered the tournament as the MEAC regular-season champions<\/a>, improved to 24\u20137 on the season and extended their winning streak to 12 games. Howard will now advance to the MEAC semifinal round Friday at noon, where they will face the winner of the Coppin State vs. North Carolina Central quarterfinal matchup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior forward Zennia Thomas, the MEAC Player of the Year, led Howard with 19 points while finishing just one rebound shy of a double-double. Thomas shot 8-of-16 from the field and added nine rebounds, continuing the consistent play that has made her one of the conference\u2019s most dominant players this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard established control early and never allowed South Carolina State to recover. The Bison opened the game with an 8\u20130 run and closed the first quarter with a 21\u20139 advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freshman guard Ariella Henigan, the MEAC Rookie of the Year, sparked the early surge by scoring six points in the opening two minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From that point forward, Howard relied on its depth to keep the momentum going. The Bison steadily built their lead and entered halftime ahead 38\u201315, while rotating players throughout the lineup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team\u2019s balance was evident in the box score, as 11 different Howard players contributed points in the victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redshirt junior guard Zoe Stewart and junior forward Sa\u2019lah Hemingway each added nine points, while junior guard Destiny Bynum-Johnson chipped in eight points off the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard\u2019s bench proved especially impactful, outscoring South Carolina State\u2019s reserves 31\u20139 and helping the Bison control the boards with a 54\u201332 rebounding advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Head coach Ty Grace, the MEAC Coach of the Year, said the team\u2019s depth has been a key factor in its success throughout the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are confident in our bench,\u201d Grace said. \u201cThis is what we\u2019ve done all season. Our reserves are comfortable when they enter the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Carolina State, the tournament\u2019s No. 8 seed, was limited to just eight available players due to injuries, including the absence of three starters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the short roster, Shaunice Reed led the Bulldogs with 15 points and six rebounds in the loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With momentum on their side and a balanced roster contributing across the lineup, the Bison now turn their focus to Friday\u2019s semifinal matchup as they continue their pursuit of a MEAC tournament championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top-seeded Howard women\u2019s basketball continued its dominant run in the MEAC Tournament with a 75\u201343 quarterfinal victory over South Carolina State. Zennia Thomas led the Bison with 19 points as Howard extended its winning streak to 12 games and advanced to the semifinals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Howard women\u2019s basketball advances in the MEAC Tournament. The top-seeded Bison defeated South Carolina State 75\u201343 behind 19 points from MEAC Player of the Year Zennia Thomas to move on to the semifinals.\n\n#MEAC #collegebasketball #howarduniversity","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hbcus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Howard-University-junior-forward-Salah-Hemingway-scored-nine-points-in-the-victory-over-South-Carolina-State-at-the-MEAC-Tournament-Quarterfinals.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3593,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions\/3593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}