BALTIMORE – Coppin State's women's basketball team scored a season-high 81 points but fell to Howard University, 88-81 on Saturday afternoon at PEC Arena.
Jalynda Salley led the Eagles with a career-high 22 points with ten rebounds, while
Brooke Fields added 21 points and eight assists.
Chance Graham notched another double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
The Basics
- Final Score: Coppin State 81, Howard 88
- Records: Coppin State (2-23, 2-11 MEAC) / Maryland Eastern Shore (15-11, 8-5 MEAC)
- Location: Baltimore, Md. (PEC Arena)
- Series History: Howard Leads, 41-28
How It Happened
First Quarter
- The teams traded a couple leads in the opening minutes but after Kaiya Coleman drained a three to tie the score at nine with 3:57 remaining, Howard answered with a three and closed the period on a 10-2 run.
Second Quarter
- CSU played even with Howard and clawed to within 29-23 at the 5:53 mark on a layup by Jalynda Salley.
- The Bison answered with a three before another Salley layup, but another Howard triple got the lead back to double figures.
- E'mya Price then hit a jumper off a dish from Coleman but five-straight Howard points extended the lead to 13 and the visitors went into halftime with a 43-30 lead.
Third Quarter
- Chance Graham got the second half started with a fastbreak layup, but once again, Howard answered back with five-straight to take a 48-32 lead with 8:56 to go.
- Coppin then started a huge rally, going on a 14-3 run over the next five-and-a-half minutes to close to within 51-46 with 3:25 left in the period.
- Brooke Fields had nine of CSU's 14 points during the stretch
- Howard stopped the bleeding with a three, which Maraiyah Smith answered, but the Bison scored nine of the quarter's final 12 points to take a 63-51 lead after three.
Fourth Quarter
- Jalynda Salley scored Coppin's first seven points of the period but Howard kept scoring as well to keep its lead in double figures.
- With 4:45 remaining, the Bison led 78-63, but the Eagles continued to fight.
- Brooke Fields converted on a three-point play the old-fashioned way, and after a free throw by Chance Graham, Fields and Kaiya Coleman made back-to-back three's to cap off a 10-0 run and cutting the deficit to 78-73 at the 3:22 mark.
- Howard doubled up its advantage with five-straight points in the next 90 seconds.
- Salley made a free throw, followed by a nifty transition layup by Diamond Adams to pull within seven, but that was as close as the Eagles would get until Coleman made a three in the closing seconds.
Inside the Numbers
- Jalynda Salley was dominant inside, leading Coppin with a career-high 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting, along with ten rebounds for a double-double.
- Brooke Fields added 21 points while making all eight of her free throws, to go with a career-high eight assists with just one turnover. In the second half, Fields had 19 points.
- Chance Graham notched another double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds while making 12-of-16 free throws.
- Graham passed LaShawn Scott to move into 15th place on the CSU career scoring charts with 976 points. She also has 858 rebounds to rank third in school-history, just seven behind second-place Kiesha Brooks and and 50 behind all-time leader Rene' Doctor.
- Kaiya Coleman continued her success offensively with 11 points off the bench while Maraiyah Smith chipped in with seven points and four assists.
- Howard got 26 points from Sarah Edmond, 23 from Jayla Thornton and 20 from Ayonna Williams. The Bison outshot Coppin, 46.0% to 37.7% and made 19-of-21 free throws compared to just 25-of-40 for the Eagles.
- Coppin committed 23 turnovers which led to 18 Bison points.
Who's Next?
The Eagles host Delaware State for Senior Night at 5:30 pm on Monday, February 25. Prior to the game, Coppin will honor its seniors
Kaiya Coleman and
Brooke Fields.
