WASHINGTON, D.C. – Freshman guard Jerni Kiaku scored a team-high 17 points and junior Blessing Okoh was a point shy of a double-double to highlight play for the North Carolina Central University women's basketball team in a 75-54 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference road loss at Howard University on Saturday afternoon.
 
Kiaku scored in double digits for a 14th time in her rookie campaign, making half of her field goal attempts and five of her six free throw attempts. Okoh filled up the box score with nine points and game-high totals of 10 rebounds and four blocks.
 
Junior Kimia Carter cashed in her third consecutive double-digit scoring performance with 10 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
 
Howard outscored NCCU 22-10 in the first quarter and then maintained a sizable lead throughout the rest of the contest, including a 10-plus point cushion for the final 25 minutes. The MEAC defending champion Bison picked up their second straight win with just a better shooting day than the Eagles. Howard (8-11 Overall, 4-2 MEAC) shot 41.7 percent from the field, including 36.8 percent from 3-point distance. The Eagles were held to 34.5 percent accuracy from the floor and just 15.8 percent from behind the arc, both of which are NCCU's worst marks against league competition this season.
 
Junior Destiny Howell scored a game-high 24 points to lead the victorious Bison. Graduate student Aziah Hudson followed with 16 points.
 
NC Central (9-12, 3-3) will next play at Norfolk State University on Monday at 4 p.m.
 
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