MURFREESBORO - The women's basketball team fell 66-56 in their season opener to Barton College this evening on a 18 of 53 shooting performance. The game got off to a slow start offensively for both teams. With just over eight minutes to play in the first period Chowan held a narrow 13-12 lead over the Bulldogs. Barton battled back and at the 2:31 mark took a 23-21 lead over Chowan. Chowan's Tyshaunna Winston made good on a coast-to-coast lay up after a missed Barton three point attempt to knot the game at 23-23 heading into half time.

Barton took the early lead out of the locker room following the half time break and never gave it up. The Bulldogs got ahead by as many as 15 points in the second period. Chowan battled over the last five minutes of the game but couldn't seem to find the basket to cut the Bulldog lead, eventually falling with a final score 66-56.

Chowan was out rebounded in the game 52 to 44 and allowed Barton to get 15 of their points on put backs under the basket. Chowan  shot just 34%  (18-53) from the floor in the game and hit 3 of 14 from beyond the three-point arch.  Barton made good on 33% from of their shots from the floor hitting 23 of 70 taken in the game.

For Chowan, Winston came off the bench to lead the team with 14 points and 8 rebounds while Joi Hazel netted 11 points and 2 steals. Keyon Sellers paced the Hawks on the boards with 11  while also contributing 6 points and 4 steals. Chowan spread the scoring as nine different players notched points in the game.

For Barton, who now sits at 1-0 after tonight's win, Esty Flores scored a game-high 16 points on a 6-12 shooting performance. Kendra Thomas had 14 points and 8 boards while Jo Denevan had 10 rebounds.

Chowan will travel to the Jackie Ammons Memorial Basketball Tournament at Peace College this weekend. They will go toe-to-toe with Chatham College at 8:00pm to open the tournament.  They return to the Helms Center on Monday, November 20th when West Virginia Tech comes to town for a 6:00pm match up.