Can NC Central Defy the Odds Against Coppin State?
The North Carolina Central Eagles women’s basketball team has been on a roll with a winning streak, collecting wins in their season so far with a standing of 6-8 in the overall conference rankings. The Eagles are holding the sixth spot in the Mid-Eastern Conference. In the previous game, they matched up with SC State, which is another HBCU rival in their conference, with a victory score of 68-63. Even though SC State is in the very low rankings at 11, also with a 1-13 record in their conference poll. The Eagles were able to take on this team with their leading scorer Morgan Callahan, who was able to put up 22 points and 18 rebounds, while Shakiria Foster contributed three assists. Also, two of their bench players, Jada Creech and Victoria Morris, both put up eight and nine points each on the board. Both of SC State's starters and bench players were all able to put points up on the board, but it didn't help them win their game. The Eagles were able to get back on defense and made sure to get the offensive rebounds. The Eagles had a high percentage of three-point shots being made in this matchup, at 13.3%. They are dominant in the paint, making sure to put back on the glass as they hustle and gain that physical contact if needed to go to the free throw line.
The Eagles had the largest lead up against SC State at 15. On the other hand, guard Kyla Bryant is also another one of the Eagles’ team scorers, who contributes 13.2 points per game. Coppin State has taken the third leading spot in the Mid-Eastern Conference with an overall conference record of 8-6. Their main player who scores a significant amount of points for Coppin State is forward Laila Lawrence, 16.8 pts, 10.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks, so this player right here has been on fire with her season at Coppin State. This is the main person that North Carolina Central will have to watch out for on the court; someone will have to lock her down since she is a leader on the floor. While Angel Jones was helping, he also put up 15.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. From the previous game, their matchup against the Morgan State Lady Bears, the Eagles fell short against them with a score of 59-54. Even though Laila and Angel were the main leaders for the Eagles, it did not help enough, being that Naya Ojukwu and Gabrielle Johnson both worked together, making jumpers and assists coming straight out on the court ready to go at the start of the first quarter. This team has a lot of shooters from the starters and their bench players as well. Furthermore, when it comes to steals and blocks, the Lady Bears came up ready to work the defense and attack to keep the ball on their side to get points on the board. They made sure to use the paint as their advantage, feeding their big man, and kept the largest lead against Coppin State. It wasn't a bad blowout for Coppin State; they could have made a comeback even with two three-point shots to win by that one point against the Lady Bears.
The way it is looking for Coppin State and North Carolina Central in the MEAC Tournament, Coppin has the upper hand according to ESPN Analytics. In the last five games North Carolina player only two games have been won, while Coppin only won one, within these last five games both of these teams have matched up with this prediction will be changed based on how both of these teams come out with a mindset of I am going to work hard and make the right plays and not think just because Coppin is top three in the rankings that they will come out on top. This MEAC Tournament will be Thursday, March 13th at noon EDT at Norfolk Scope. The atmosphere will be electric as fans from both sides come out to support their teams, adding to the intensity of the competition. Each player will need to focus on executing their strategies effectively if they hope to advance in the tournament.
