SALISBURY — Lots of banners hang from the rafters of New Trent Gym, but the only visible one from Livingstone women’s basketball was put there by coach Andrew Mitchell, Julie Tarrance, Eric Deas and the rest of the 2000 Blue Bears, who are in the college’s Hall of Fame.

There’s a chance that banner will have company at the end of this season. Livingstone’s express train kept rolling Monday with an easy 72-46 win against Chowan. The magnitude of the victory was eye-popping because the Hawks (8-8, 4-2) came to Salisbury leading the CIAA’s Northern Division.

“We were concerned,” first-year Livingstone coach Anita Howard said. “We’ve had some illness and some injuries, and Chowan has been playing very well.”

The Blue Bears are 15-0 for the first time in school history and 6-0 in the CIAA. They played competitively in an exhibition at D-I Western Carolina to open the season and lost in overtime in a recent exhibition at UNC Greensboro, another D-I school.

“We’re very excited about being 15-0,” guard Labrea Walker said quietly. “I’m just not someone that shows a lot of emotion.”

Wins rarely have been routine for Livingstone’s women, but they took care of business calmly against Chowan, holding the Hawks to 19 first-half points with a lot of length and a lot of quickness. It was 30-19 at the break.

“No. 5 (Rachel Gostromski) for Chowan can really shoot,” Howard said. “We did a nice job of shutting her down in the first half.”

Livingstone blew it open with 12 minutes to go when Kyra Crosby powered in a putback and Alexis Hicks attacked the hoop for a three-point play and a 48-29 cushion.

“We rebounded better in the second half,” Howard said. “They beat us on the boards in the first half, and there’s no reason for that to happen.”

When Cierra York drained a 3-pointer with 8:55 left, LC’s lead reached 20 points, and Howard was able to get everyone on her long bench some playing time. Eleven Blue Bears scored. Crosby led the way with 16, while Amber Curtis had 12.

“Our bench was good,” Howard said. “We’ve had a lot of games where we started fast but then slacked off. We finished this one strong.”

Livingstone accumulated 58 rebounds, 24 on the offensive end. The Blue Bears forced 27 turnovers and held Chowan to 27-percent shooting.

“We played good defense without fouling,” Walker said. “Our teamwork was very good. We know if we stick together we’re going to be a  hard team to beat.”

The Blue Bears were just outside the top 25 in the Jan. 6 D-II  poll, leading the “others receiving votes” list.  When the next poll is released, they should see themselves in the top 25.

“We’re playing better and better,” Howard said. “But we start playing against the Southern Division Saturday (at Shaw), and the Southern is traditionally the tougher division.”

CHOWAN (46): Gostromski 13, Harrington 8, Crenshaw 8, Payne 7, Nelson 5, Williams 3, Roberts 2, Witherspoon, Smith, S. Curtis.

LIVINGSTONE (72): Crosby 16, A. Curtis 12, Walker 9, Hicks 8, York 7, Roberts 6, Searcy 5, Foster 3, Grinage 2, Lepzem 2, Malone 2, Blunt, Daniels, Fowler.

Chowan       19  27 — 46

Livingstone 30  42 — 72