BALTIMORE – No. 8 seed Johnson C. Smith relied on a big third period to topple No. 9 seed Virginia Union 72-54 in a first round women's basketball game Tuesday in the CIAA Tournament at the CFG Bank Arena.

All-CIAA performer Ny Langley scored 16 points for Virginia Union, whose season came to a close at 13-16 overall.

Leading by two at halftime, the Golden Bulls outscored the Lady Panthers 28-16 in the third period to open a 53-39 lead. JCSU shot 65 percent in the third period.

"The story of the game is that I told the team that we had to rebound them, and we lost that battle," said VUU Head Women's Basketball Coach Tierra Terry.  "It was tied at halftime and we ended up losing the rebounding battle.  They scored 19 points off of our turnovers, so a lot of the stuff we went through was self-inflicted and should have never happened.  We would make a run and trade baskets, and it's hard to win like that when you're already in a deficit."

The Lady Panthers closed within single digits in the fourth period, but the Golden Bulls went on a late run to pull away. For the contest, JCSU shot 42.9 percent and held Virginia Union to 31.2 percent.