BALTIMORE, MD. – Senior
Keena Samuels scored a team-high 18 points coming off of the Eagles bench in a 7656 home loss to Bethune-Cookman on Saturday, February 11, 2017.
Coppin State falls to 5-18 overall and 5-6 in the MEAC. Bethune-Cookman won both meetings this season against the Eagles and improve to 13-9 overall and 9-1 in conference play.
Samuels recorded a Coppin State team season-high eight made free-throws in her 13
th double figure scoring game. Red-shirt junior
Genesis Lucas was the only other Eagle to score in double-digits with 13 points and a game-high five assists with three steals. Graduate
Vanessa Neal added eight points, three assists and three rebounds and freshman
Chance Graham posted a game-high eight rebounds. Freshman
Oluwadamilola Oloyede recorded a season-high five rebounds and sophomore
Alexis Taylor notched a career-high with six rebounds.
Junior
Candice Beverly and graduate
Tiara Goode both made early field goals giving the Eagles an early 5-0 advantage over the Wildcats. Coppin State made seven first quarter field goals anchored by bench scoring from Samuels and Taylor. Samuels led the Eagles with seven points converting on 3-of-4 free-throws while Taylor went 2-for-2 from the field with post scoring. The wildcats forced five early CSU turnovers that led to nine offensive points. BCU also shot 42-percent from the field hitting 8-of-19 field goals and carried a 22-18 advantage into the second quarter.
Lucas posted seven second quarter points with Coppin State struggling offensively with only three made field goals. Samuels was the only other Eagle to score in the quarter making a pair of free-throws that tied the game at 22-22 at the 7:45 mark. The Wildcats responded with timely defense and a pair of three-pointers. With under a minute to go in the first half the deficit increased to double-digits (36-26). Lucas scored the final basket of the half to cut the BCU lead to 36-28 at halftime.
Bethune-Cookman kept up the momentum in the second half outscoring Coppin State 21-12 in the third period. Samuels led the bunch with six points and Beverly, Neal and Lucas all registered two points each. The Wildcats extended their lead to 17 (56-39) with 45-seconds left in the third quarter and went into the final period ahead 57-40.
In the final period the Wildcats remained in control by double-digits and cruised to a 76-56 win over the Eagles. Neal and Lucas both scored four points in the quarter.
The Wildcats finished with three in double figure scoring led by Kailyn Williams' 20 points and seven rebounds. Kendra Cooper had 14 points and six rebounds while Ashanti Hunt had 13 points, six rebounds and five steals.
Coppin State rounds out their previous three game home slate on Monday, February 13th at 5:30 p.m. against the Hornets of Delaware State University. The Eagles lead the all-time series with the Hornets 39-20 and have won the last five games dating back to the 2010-11 season.
