title image via Haskins Photography
Courtesy of Ed Hill, Jr., retired Howard Sports Information Director
What a difference a year makes! Last year this time, the Howard University women’s basketball program was in unfamiliar territory. An annual contender for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) title, the Bison were struggling to find an identity. It was understandable as the team lost the conference player of the year Destiny Howell (Queens, N.Y.) in an exhibition before the season started.
Coach Ty Grace and her staff had to scramble and improvise to move on from a 6-12 start without the services of their leading scorer. Adding to the problems of having lost Howell, the team had one of the more challenging schedules that it had in recent years.
In her ninth season, Grace rallied the troops and found a formula that led to winning 12-of-the-last-15 games and advancing to the tournament final where they fell short, 51-46, to Norfolk State.
Fast-forward to the current season and the team is 10-8 overall, including 3-0 in the MEAC early-season race. While that may be encouraging to some, it is not exactly what Grace drew up.
“Last season, we set up a challenging nonconference schedule that we felt could help us prepare for conference play,” notes Grace. “Of course, we had not factored in that Destiny would miss the entire season. We scheduled nonconference teams that we could compete and get some wins to boost our confidence going into conference play. So, while it is better than at the same time last year, it is not what we should expect in terms of wins and losses.”
Howell returns to the team and has shown the ability to score as she has in the past. The 6-foot-1 graduate guard is regarded as one the premier three-point shooters in the country. She has fully rehabbed, but yet to show the same lethal shot that has earned her the reputation.
“With an injury like that, it takes time to get back,” said Grace. “She knows who she was before the injury and working to get back to it.”
As all great players do, Howell has found ways to contribute to the team’s success when her shot is not falling with regularity. The sharpshooter still leads the team in scoring with almost 16 points per game and while she may not be connecting at her usual high shooting percentage, she has made up for it by contributing to other areas.
Howell has recorded 38 assists, good for second on the team, while blocking eight shots and getting 20 steals. A career 80-percent free throw shooter, she is converting on 85-percent from the charity stripe, including 22-of-the-last-24.
Going into the season, Grace was excited about the prospect of having Howell and redshirt sophomore guardTyana Walker (Leawood, Kan.) on the floor at the same time. Walker came in last year and turned heads, taking the place of Howell in the team’s offense. She finished second on the team in scoring and was named MEAC Rookie of the Year.
But it has not played out that way as Walker has struggled to find the consistency that made her the object of the opponents’ scout. On the season, she is shooting under 30-percent and averaging 4.7 points; however, she has come on of late. In the wins over Morgan State (Jan. 11) and Coppin State (Jan.13), Walker has found her mojo as she came off the bench to score 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-6 from downtown, her specialty.
“Tyanna requires a high volume of shots,” Grace stated. “So, now that Destiny is back, she has to find a way to make a contribution.”
Despite not being the scorer in the Bison system, Walker, like Howell, has become more of an all-around contributor as her defense has improved and she is now finding teammates. She has recorded 16 steals off the bench.
This team is probably one of the more versatile and deepest since Grace’s arrival. But despite this season’s recent success, Grace admits that it is still a work in progress.
“We have a combination of returning players and some new players and they are still trying to figure out their roles,” said Grace, who led Howard to its first round NCAA Tournament win in 2022.
The group of important returnees include junior forward Nile Miller (Haddonfield, N.J.), graduate forward Kaiya Creek (Seat Pleasant, Md.), senior forwards Vanessa Blake (Summerville, S.C.) and Marissa Steel (Laurel, Md.), senior guard Nyla Cooper (Fayetteville, N.C.), sophomore guard Janyah Bohanon (Cleveland) and sophomore forward Sa’lah Hemingway (San Bernardino, Calif.).
Miller is one of the keys if Howard is going to win the MEAC title. In her two years, she has proven to be one of the top defensive players in the conference. Last season, she finished second in the voting for league Defensive Player of the Year after ranking among the leaders in steals, rebounds and blocked shots.
Recently, the 6-foot-1 long junior forward has begun to become aggressive on the offensive end. In the past five games, she has picked up her play, scoring 39 points on 15-of-29 from the field, along with 17 rebounds, eight steals and seven blocks.
“I tell Nile that she could be a double-double every game if she continues to work hard,” Grace expressed.
Creek played a key role in helping turn around the season with her play last season that resulted in receiving preseason all-conference second team selection. Her numbers are down from last season but over the past five games, her productivity has picked up with 23 points during that stretch. Grace says she expects her to pick up her play as the conference play continues.
Blake started most of last season, which was her best season. This season, she got off to a slow start but in the wins over Delaware State (Jan. 4) and Morgan State, she scored 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting and grabbing six rebounds. Her and Steel played well down the stretch a year ago, especially in the tournament.
Cooper has been through the wars and serves as a valuable backup at the point guard position.
Bohanon is perhaps the most physically talented player on the squad because of her size and talent, she is able to be a matchup problem for the bigger players and too strong for the smaller players. The problem has been insistency; however, she had her best all-around game against Coppin State when she came off the bench and provided the spark that helped the Bison grab the come-from-behind win. The talented Bohanon tallied a career-high 13 points in 12 key minutes off the bench.
Hemmingway also made a significant contribution in last year’s tournament, but she has yet to have a breakout game.
In addition to getting used to playing with Howell, the team has had to find ways to play with two new players in junior forward Zennia Thomas (Cleveland) and freshman guard Saniyah King (Washington).
Thomas, a 6-foot-1 transfer from Kentucky, has brought a different element to the front court with her ability to score and rebound. On the season, she is averaging 9.5 points and 7.1 rebounds. She has scored a career-high 25 points this season and registered two double-doubles.
“We were not even sure that she was going to be able to play,” explained Grace. “She missed some important time in the preseason and fell behind. She was playing catchup and learning the system. She did not play much in the two years in Kentucky, so she is out to prove something. It is just going to take time for her to become more consistent.”
King has been one of the pleasant surprises to come to Howard in some time at the point guard position. The 5-foot-7 freshman from Bishop Ireton High School in Virginia has taken over the reins of the Bison team. She is second on the team in scoring and leads the MEAC with 5.0 assists per game. The impressive assists total is second among all freshmen in the country.
“What you see in the games is what we saw in practices,” said Grace on King, who has been named MEAC Rookie of the Week eight times this season. “She came from a very good basketball program and we knew she could run a team. But quite frankly, we did not think that she would be a scorer.”
Because of King’s efficiency in taking care of the ball, Howard has committed fewer turnovers than at any time in the last five years.
Howard has taken care of conference foes Delaware State, Morgan State and Coppin State inside Burr Gymnasium. But now comes the real test, starting Saturday (Jan. 25) at two-time reigning MEAC champion Norfolk State.
“Moving forward, the key for us is that we continue to define our roles and get more consistent,” Grace concluded. “We also need to get more production from our bench and continue to take care of the ball. If we do these things, we have a chance to win the title. That is our goal.”
