BALTIMORE, Md. - Red-shirt junior guard
Genesis Lucas finished with a game-high 24 points and eight assists leading Coppin State women's basketball to their first victory of the season over South Carolina State, 70-54 in the MEAC opener. Senior
Keena Samuels added 16 points and junior
Candice Beverly recorded a career-high ten points anchoring the Eagles bench scoring.
Coppin State moves to 1-12 overall and 1-0 in the MEAC while South Carolina State drops to 3-9 and 0-1 in MEAC play. CSU recorded team season-highs in points (70), assists (17), field goals made (28) and field goal percentage (.424) against the Bulldogs.
The Eagles came out in the MEAC home opener with great defensive intensity against the Bulldogs. SCSU had 12 first half turnovers and went 9-for-24 from the field. CSU was carried by Lucas' first half scoring with nine points and four assists. Samuels added six points and freshman
Chance Graham had seven rebounds with four points. Coppin State led after the first quarter 14-12 but went into halftime down by three, 28-25.
The duo of Lucas and Samuels gave the Eagles a huge push in the third quarter combining for 17 points. SCSU was held to ten quarter points and went 4-for-20 from the field. Coppin State rallied off 22 points in the third and dominated the paint 12-6 in favor of the Eagles.
In the final quarter of play, junior
Candice Beverly caught fire hitting all four of her shots from the field recording ten points in the quarter. Her aggressive play anchored the rest of her team as CSU outscored SCSU 23-16 in the fourth and went on to win 70-54.
"We did a good job of taking care of the basketball, we usually have more than 15 turnovers and this what definitely a team win," said Coppin State head women's basketball coach
DeWayne Burroughs. "We did a good job of stopping their run in the second half and finished off the game with a solid fourth quarter. We head to Florida this weekend to battle Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman in their place. We have to continue to take care of the basketball, make shots and share the basketball. Tonight we had 17 assists which is the most all year long and that led us to victory."
Three Eagles ended up with double figure scoring led by Lucas' 24 points. Junior
Oluwaseun Adeniji tied a career-high with three assists and grabbed six rebounds. Beverly's career-high scoring effort came on four made field goals. Graduate
Tiara Goode tied a season-best with two assists. She grabbed seven rebounds and scored six points. Graham tied her season-high with 11 rebounds for the third time this season. She also scored eight points knocking down a season-best four shots from the field.
Coppin State continues Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play with a pair of road games at Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman. The Eagles travel to Tallahassee for their first game against the Rattlers on Saturday, Jan. 7th at 2 p.m. and then will face the Wildcats on Monday, Jan. 9th at 5:30 p.m. in Daytona Beach.
