Women's Basketball | 1/7/2016 10:02:00 AM
BALTIMORE- Coppin State senior guard Amber Griffin has always enjoyed distributing the ball ever since she began playing basketball in the backyard.
With a perfect pass to fellow senior guard Jordan Swails at the 9:38 mark in the third quarter that gave the Lady Eagles a 34-18 lead in Monday night's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) win against Norfolk State, Griffin claimed her place in Coppin State women's basketball history.
"Distributing the ball has always been a passion for me," said Griffin, a native of Atlanta, GA. "It is so satisfying when I work hard going through screens and around players and I pass the ball off and one of my teammates sinks the basket. It's just a feeling I can't explain."
Griffin, a psychology major here at Coppin State, finished the game with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists passing Shalamar Oakley (326) for second all-time on the women's basketball assists list. She now has 328 total assists midway through her senior year.
"I just feel honored to be second in the Coppin State history books and the third player ever to reach the 300-assist milestone," Griffin said. "It's a blessing knowing that I'll leave here with my name in the history books. Looking back, it come full circle because 328 was also the assist record for my high school."
She overcame a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) at the end of her senior year at Luella High School in Locust Grove, GA.
"When I first started playing here at Coppin State I just wanted to win and have fun doing what I love. Achieving this assists record wasn't a goal for me. But when I starting catching up during my sophomore season and then noticed I was in the top-10 my junior year, I thought to myself that maybe I can get up there and put my name in the record books."
Griffin is currently second on the Lady Eagles in scoring (9.6 ppg) and assists (2.7 apg). She has 35 assists so far on the season.
Griffin is also in the top 25 in the MEAC in scoring, assists, field goal percentage, (42.7%) and minutes played (33.9 mpg).
Coppin State is on a current two game win streak and are 1-0 in MEAC play.
Griffin and the Lady Eagles have their eyes set on much larger goals this season.
"We want to win a MEAC Championship," Griffin said. "We've been working hard throughout our four years and this year included. We understand we have to take things game-by-game and continue to get better. But our main goal is to get that ring."
Coppin State will return to action this Saturday January 9 when it heads to Washington D.C. to face Howard with tipoff slated for 2:00 p.m.
