Coppin State makes history, again
The Lady Eagles of Coppin State, regular season champions of the MEAC, were the only one of eight black college NCAA Div. I teams playing in either the NCAA or NIT Tournaments to get a win in first round action last week.
The Lady Eagles' win over St. Joseph's Thursday,
March 15, was head coach Derek Brown and the Lady Eagles
first-ever NCAA Div. I postseason win and the first-ever win
for an MEAC women's team in postseason NCAA or NIT play.
It comes 12 years after the Coppin State men defeated St. Joseph's in a 1995 first round NIT game. That 1995 win was the first for an MEAC team in postseason NCAA or NIT play in 21 years, dating back to a Morgan State first round win in the men's NIT of 1974. Coppin State in 1997 and Hampton in 2001 have won first round NCAA men's games since then. The men of Delaware State won a first round NIT game last season over Northern Arizona.
FIRST ROUND (Women)
COPPIN STATE 67, ST. JOSEPH'S 52
MEAC regular season champ Coppin State
put together two decisive runs, one in each half, to pull away from St. Joseph's and get the women's program's
first postseason victory in a first-round WNIT game. After falling behind late in the
first half, the Lady Eagles (25-7) finished the half on a 15-7 run, led by six points
from Danielle Anders, to lead 26-22 at the break. In the second half, point
guard Shalamar Oakley's 3-pointer at the 11:01 mark capped an 11-1 run that put
CSU up 44-31. The lead reached its zenith at the final buzzer.
Tanezia Harden led Coppin State in scoring for the first time this season with a season-high 18
points. Anders sank a career-high five field goals to tie a career-high with 11
points. Rashida Suber scored 16 points and had four steals, while
Talia Sutton led the with 12 rebounds.
SECOND ROUND (Women)
SOUTH FLORIDA 66, COPPIN STATE 49
Coppin State battled gamely but were done in in their second round
WNIT contest by bad shooting. The Lady Eagles canned just 27.4% (17 of 64) of their
shots in the game in suffering their largest margin of defeat this season. Despite
their inability to shoot well, they were tied at 46 with nine minutes left after a
3-pointer from guard Rashida Suber. South Florida then went on a 20-3 run to close out
the game and the Lady Eagles' season. Suber tallied 20 points to lead CSU
while Tamieka Noel had 10. Whitney Cunningham's
11 rebounds helped the Lady Eagles to a 45-40 edge on the boards but they got just two points from their bench.
© 2007 Azeez Communications, Inc.