BALTIMORE – A furious fourth quarter rally by the Coppin State women's basketball team fell just short as it fell to Maryland Eastern Shore, 66-64 on Saturday afternoon at PEC Arena. The Eagles fell to 9-19 overall and 6-5 in the MEAC while the Hawks improved to 15-13 on the year and 8-3 in league play.
Paris McBride led four CSU players in double figures with 14 points, followed by
Erin Henry with 13,
Sydney Burris with a double-double 11 points and ten rebounds, and
Shanaii Gamble with seven. Gamble was second to Burris with six rebounds while
Khila Morris and McBride combined for seven assists. Burris blocked two shots while Henry and Morris tallied two steals.
UMES outshot Coppin, 47.2% to 42.1% as the Eagles committed 23 turnovers which led to 26 points for the Hawks. Coppin also made just 10-of-21 (47.6%) of its free throws compared to 15-of-19 (78.9%) for the UMES.
Coppin started out hot, making 9-of-13 shots from the floor with four threes in the first quarter. As good as the Eagles shot from the field to start, they went just as cold in the second quarter and were outscored 23-6 in the period to fall behind 40-28 at the half.
After playing even in the third, Coppin fought back from a 58-46 deficit with 8:04 remaining to tie the score at 64 with 19 seconds remaining on a tip-in by Burris. The putback by Burris concluded an 8-0 run by the Eagles which featured six-straight points by McBride.
The Hawks called a timeout following Burris' basket and got the win on a layup by Ashanti Lynch with less than a second left on the clock. Morris got a desperation three off just before the final buzzer but was off the mark.
CSU returns to action on Thursday, February 26 at league-leading Howard for a 7 pm start.
