Women's Basketball | 3/4/2015 10:40:00 AM
BALTIMORE – Coppin State women's basketball senior
Bria Harris will take the court in the Physical Education Complex for the last time Thursday evening.
The Eagles (5-21 overall, 4-11 MEAC) hosts Delaware State (5-23, 2-13) for its final regular season game of the season. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. The Eagles could potentially end in a three-way tie for ninth place if North Carolina Central loses to North Carolina A&T and Florida A&M loses to Savannah State.
From there, the conference will use tiebreaking scenarios to decide on seedings and pairings when they release the brackets for next week's MEAC Tournament at the Norfolk Scope Arena early Friday morning. If the Eagles finish ninth or tenth, they will play Tuesday. If Coppin State ends up 11th, it will play Monday.
Coppin State is looking to sweep this year's meetings with Delaware State. In February, the Eagles earned an 80-62 victory over the Hornets with four players scoring double digits. Before the rematch begins, Harris will be honored at center court for her contributions over the past four years.
As the lone senior this season, Harris knew that she would need to embrace her leadership responsibilities and step into a new role.
"I was a role player," Harris said during the preseason. "That one person in the cut that no one notices what they're doing but they're really helping the team. I need to push myself to be a scorer this year. That's my goal."
Harris certainly has delivered on her goal as a fixture in Coppin State's starting lineup and is enjoying her finest season, averaging 8.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. She currently stands sixth in the MEAC in rebounds per game and 15th in blocked shots (0.6).
Harris posted a career-high 21 points versus Virginia Union Nov. 29. She has tied her career-best 12 rebounds twice this season, including during the last meeting with DSU. She also had 15 points for her second double-double and held Tierra Hawkins, the Hornet's leading scorer who ranks fifth in the MEAC in scoring, to a single point in the second half.
In 96 appearances, Harris has 476 career points, 415 rebounds and 36 blocks. She has 15 career double figure scoring games, 10 of which have occurred this season. Harris has pulled down double digit rebounds six times this season and eight times in her career. She led Coppin State in rebounding 12 times this season.
"She's been a team leader this season," Coppin State coach
Derek Brown said. "She's led this team even though we don't have the victories that we wanted to have. She's done the right things. She's done an admiral job on the floor. We thank her for her four years here and she's going to graduate on time."
