No. 4 Coppin State Prepared to Take On No. 9 South Carolina State in MEAC Semifinals

BALTIMORE- The Coppin State Lady Eagles (15-15, 10-6) will face the South Carolina State Lady Bulldogs (11-18, 7-9) in the Semifinals of the MEAC Women's Basketball Tournament on Friday March 11 in Scope Arena in Norfolk, VA. Tipoff is at noon.

GAME INFORMATION

Venue: Scope Arena (11,000) – Norfolk, Va.

Tipoff Time: 12:00 p.m. ET

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ABOUT THE EAGLES

The Lady Eagles are (15-15, 10-6) the fourth seed in the MEAC Women's Basketball Tournament and are coming off an quarterfinal round 63-53 win over the Morgan State Lady Bears on Thursday, March 10.

The Lady Eagles have won eight consecutive games and Coppin State has won at least one MEAC tournament game in six straight seasons.

Five Lady Eagles are scoring at least 8.0 points per game and three players are in the top 30 in scoring in the MEAC. Keena Samuels is putting in a team leading 11.3 points per game. 

She has scored in double figures in 14 of 17 MEAC games this season. 

Janelle Lane was award All-MEAC Third team honors. She is averaging 11.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per outing. Lane has 20 double-digit scoring games this year.

Omaah Tayong leads Coppin State in rebounding. Her 8.3 rebounds per games is tied for fifth in the MEAC. Tayong is adding 8.8 points for Coppin State.

Genesis Lucas leads Coppin State in steals (66) and assists (125) through 28 games. She has led the Lady Eagles in steals 18 times and assists 28 times in her career. 

Senior Amber Griffin has scored in double figures in seven of the last nine games for the Lady Eagles. She is averaging 13.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals per contest over that stretch. 

Jordan Swails is chipping in 9.6 points and 6.0 rebounds since moving to a reserve role for the Lady Eagles. 

LAST TIME OUT

Senior forward Janelle Lane scored a game-high 20 points to lead four players in double figures to help Coppin State pull away to 63-53 win over Morgan State in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament at Scope Arena on Thursday March 10.  The Lady Eagles will play South Carolina State on Friday at noon in the semifinal round.

"We didn't want to lose," said Lane, a native of Baltimore, MD. "We were just trying to stay focus. We had to keep the same energy throughout the game."

Lane added four rebounds and a steal in 34 minutes on game action. She went 6-for-9 from the field while knocking down eight of her 10 foul shots.

"That's the biggest problem with me is getting into foul trouble early," Lane said. "Today I just tried to calm down, play my game and let the game come to me."

Lane scored 14of her 20 points in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Head coach Derek Brown was pleased with how his team remained calm and executed down the stretch to fight off a furious Morgan State comeback effort.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game," Brown said. "Third time playing them. I thought execution was key in running our plays. I have seniors and they aren't ready to go home yet. When it gets down to four or five points, they sort of turn back on again."

Amber Griffin tallied 11 points, five rebounds, two steals and an assist on 5-for-9 accuracy from the floor.

She knocked down her lone 3-point field goal while playing 37 minutes.

"It was about the intelligence throughout the game," said Griffin, a senior from Locust Grove, GA. "We were very poised and very calm throughout the game. Smart shots are always a big part of the game."

Keena Samuels also chipped in 11 points for Coppin State. She added four rebounds, a team best three steals and one assist in 34 minutes.

Jordan Swails compiled 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench, including a offensive rebound and put back layup to give the Lady Eagles an 57-51 lead with 1:12 to play in the game.

"Jordan is probably the toughest player on our team, physically," Brown said. "I'll take her heart any day, and toughness. She's our sixth starter. It's not like we have five starters, we have six."

Genesis Lucas led the Lady Eagles with six assists. She added eight points, seven rebounds and two steals in 37 minutes on the court.

Coppin State shot 38.9% from the field (22-for-57) while holding Morgan State to 29.7% accuracy from the floor (19-for-64).

The Lady Eagles owned the paint outscored the Lady Bears, 26-18 in the painted area and winning the battle of the boards, 46-38.

The Lady Eagles defense forced 14 turnovers leading to 17 points and 11 steals.

THURSDAY'S GAME

Coppin State leads the all-time series over South Carolina State State, 39-25. The Lady Eagles fell 67-63 in their only matchup against the Lady Bulldogs this season. 

ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA STATE

The Lady Bulldogs (11-18, 7-9 MEAC) are the ninth seed in the MEAC Women's Basketball Tournament and are coming off a 56-48 first round win over the top seeded Bethune-Cookman Lady Wildcats on Monday, March 7.

Amber Howard leads South Carolina State with 9.2 points and 2.4 assists per game. Brittany Drumgoole is chipping in 9.0 points and 3.6 rebounds for the Lady Bulldogs.

Jasmine Coleman is adding 7.4 points and 8.0 rebounds.

WHATS DOWN THE ROAD

If Coppin State wins Thursday vs. South Carolina State they will face the winner of the second seeded North Carolina A&T and third seeded Hampton. The Lady Eagles won home matchups against North Carolina A&T and Hampton this season. 

COPPIN STATE IN THE MEAC TOURNAMENT

The Lady Eagles have won at least one MEAC Tournament games in six straight seasons, including this season's opening round win over Norfolk State on Monday. Coppin State defeated Morgan State in the first round of the MEAC Tournament in 2015 before losing to the Tournament champions Savannah State.

Coppin State is 5-5 against South Carolina State all-time in the MEAC Tournament.

The Lady Eagles are 6-8 in MEAC Tournament semifinal games.

Jordan Swails was named to the 2015 All-MEAC Tournament team.

AGAINST THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

This will be the Lady Eagles second game against a team from the state of South Carolina this year. Coppin State is 0-1 against teams from South Carolina this season.

TEAM SUPERLATIVES

The Lady Eagles have three players in the top 30 in scoring in the MEAC (Samuels, Lane, Griffin) and five players averaging over 8.0 points per game.

Coppin State is in the top five in the MEAC in scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, field goal defense, rebounding, rebound margin, defensive rebounds, assists, steals and turnover margin.

The Lady Eagles are first in the MEAC in steals with 304 (10.1) through 30 games this season.

Keena Samuels has scored in double digits in 14 of 17 MEAC games this season. She is averaging 13.5 points in MEAC play.

Amber Griffin tied a career best with 21 points and tied a team high with nine made field goals in a win over Morgan State. She has two 20+ scoring games this season.

Senior Omaah Tayong is averaging 9.8 points and 9.0 rebounds on 51.1% shooting in conference play.

Genesis Lucas is dishing out 4.9 assists per contest in MEAC play.

Senior Janelle Lane earned Third-Team All-MEAC honor for the 2016 regular season.

MOST POINTS IN A GAME: Keena Samuels, 25 points, vs. North Carolina A&T (Jan. 27, 2016)

Keena Samuels torched North Carolina A&T for a career high 25 points as the Coppin State Lady Eagles cruised past the Aggies for a 65-59 victory Wednesday evening January, 27 in PEC Arena.

After the Aggies took a 50-49 lead with five minutes to play in the second half, a steal and layup by Samuels sparked a 7-0 Lady Eagles run. North Carolina A&T never recaptured the lead.

Samuels shot 8-of-15 from the field and knocked down nine of her 12 foul shots. She added two assists and three steals while playing all 40 minutes of the game. Samuels sunk five of her final six free throws to help seal the game for Coppin State.

MOST REBOUNDS IN A GAME: Jordan Swails, 16 rebounds, vs. Mt. St. Mary's (Nov. 29, 2015)

Senior Jordan Swails notched her fourth career double double with 11 points and a career best 16 rebounds. Swails was an equal opportunity board snatcher, finishing with eight offensive and defensive rebounds.

She added two assists, two steals and two blocks.

MOST ASSISTS IN A GAME: Genesis Lucas, 10 assists, vs. North Carolina Central (Feb. 18, 2016)

Genesis Lucas recorded a career best 10 assists. She chipped in nine points, five rebounds and a steal.

It was her first career game with double figure assists.