BALTIMORE – Playing in its first game in just over a month (33 days), the Coppin State women's basketball team dropped its home opener to La Salle, 75-49 on Monday afternoon at PEC Arena. The Eagles fall to 0-2 on the season while the Explorers, who also endured a long layoff of 17 days, even their record at 3-3.
Aliyah Lawson led Coppin with 15 points to go with three rebounds and three assists and her starting backcourt mate,
Alexandria Hamilton, added eight points.
Rebecca Wilson and
Jalynda Salley pitched in six points apiece while Wilson led all players with ten rebounds in just her second collegiate game.
Also, for Coppin,
Roni Richardson chipped in five points with two steals and
Nailah Delinois,
Hope Evans and
Abby Weiss scored three points each.
La Salle outshot Coppin, 41.8% to 33.3% and forced 24 CSU turnovers which led to 21 points. The Eagles were able to get to the line more often than the visitors and made 12-of-20 shots from the stripe. The Explorers did further damage from behind-the-arc, making 10-of-33 shots from deep compared to five triples for the Navy & Gold.
After falling behind, 4-0, Lawson recorded a steal and went in for a layup before draining a three at the 7:11 mark of the first quarter to put Coppin on top, 5-4. La Salle answered with a three, and Salley tied the score at seven, but the Explorers hit a three to up the lead to 10-7.
Salley corralled an offensive rebound and laid it back in to cut the deficit to a single point before a 6-0 La Salle run gave the visitors a seven-point advantage – the same margin they led after the first.
Coppin played virtually even with La Salle in the second quarter and went into the half trailing, 35-24. The Explorers doubled up Coppin, 18-9 in the third period which sealed the victory despite the Eagles shooting 39.1% from the floor during the second half compared to just 28.0% in the first half.
Claire Jacobs led all players with 26 points for the Explorers.
CSU opens MEAC play on January 2-3 as Delaware State comes to town for back-to-back 12 pm tipoffs.
