COLUMBUS, Ohio – Coppin State's women's basketball team played nearly even with Big Ten power Ohio State in the first half, but the Buckeyes pulled away in the second to prevail, 88-59 on Sunday afternoon at Value City Arena. The Eagles fell to 1-2 on the season as Ohio State, who was receiving the second-most votes in the Polls outside the Top 25, won its season opener.
Three CSU players finished in double figures, led by
Khila Morris with 15 points, four rebounds and four assists while hitting a career-high 7-of-8 free throws.
Shanaii Gamble added 11 points, six rebounds and two assists while
Patricia Sosa Lora finished with ten points and a game-high eight rebounds in her Coppin and season debut.
Erin Henry and
Skylar Barnes recorded eight points apiece with Barnes matching Sosa with eight rebounds to go with three assists.
Paris McBride also had five points, followed by freshman
Kyler Gary-Grayson with two.
CSU shot just 29.8% from the floor with a pair of threes but vastly improved from the line, hitting 23-of-25 (92.0%) from the stripe. The Eagles held on their own on the glass and were narrowly outrebounded, 45-41, but turned the ball over 23 times which translated into 29 points off turnovers and 27 fastbreak points.
For the first half of the opening quarter, Coppin kept it close and got a three-point play by Gamble to pull within 10-7 at the 4;30 mark. The Buckeyes closed the period on a 13-4 run, but Coppin battled back to just a 32-26 halftime deficit with six-straight points to close the opening 20 minutes.
The Eagles stayed within single digits for the opening minutes of the third, but Ohio State began to pull away in the later stages and continued its momentum through the fourth quarter,
Coppin will play its third Power Conference program in its first four games when it travels to Penn State for a 11:30 am tipoff on Wednesday, November 12.
