Maryland Eastern Shore Advances With Win Over Delaware State

The #7 Maryland Eastern Shore Lady Hawks topped #10 Delaware State 52-45, to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2010 MEAC Basketball Tournament, Tuesday morning at the Joel Coliseum.

Casey Morton scored 19 points, including 13 in the second half to lead all players, while April McBride added 15 for the Lady Hawks.

Cortney Crockett was the only Delaware State player in double figures with 13.

DSU trailed 14-10 before rallying in the first half. The Lady Hornets outscored the Hawks 14-7 over the last 6:44 of the half to take a 24-21 lead at the break. 

Delaware State opened up a 30-26 lead with a lay up by Brittany Washington with 13:44 left to play.

The Lady Hawks responded with a 14-2 run, and opened up a 40-32 advantage on steal and basket by Bria Jackson with 7:22 remaining. The Lady Hornets missed six of seven shots, and committed five turnovers during the UMES spurt.

Delaware State scored the next five points to pull to within 40-37, but the Lady Hawks responded with an 8-2 run, and took a 48-39 lead on a 3-point play by McBride with 1:59 left in the game.

The Lady Hornets concluded the season with a six wins and a school record 24 losses.  

Maryland Eastern Shore advances to face the #2 Hampton Lady Pirates on Wednesday at 10 a.m. 

 

WILEY, KNOTTS LEAD SC STATE TO 54-49 WIN OVER COPPIN STATE IN MEAC TOURNEY

WINSTON-SALEM, NC- Transfer Whitney Wiley had 17 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with 19.3 seconds left, and Tiara Knotts came off the bench for 13 points to lead eighth-seeded South Carolina State to a 54-49 win over Coppin State, the ninth seed, Tuesday in opening-round action of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament at the Joel Coliseum.

The Lady Bulldogs, who improved to 12-18, doubling last year's win total, advanced to Wednesday's quarterfinal meeting with top-seeded North Carolina A&T. Tipoff is set for 12:30 p.m.

Coach Doug Robertson's team, which led 22-18 at the half, moved out to a 13 point 38-25 lead with 8:32 left when Knotts made one of two free throws and appeared headed to a comfortable victory.

Coppin State, however, had other ideas and went on a 17-9 run to close the gap to 47-42 when Leola Spotwood connected on a 3-pointer with 2:32 to play.

Sophilia Hipps, the lone SC State senior, made one of two from the line to give the Lady Bulldogs a 48-42 cushion with 2:12 remaining, but the Lady Eagles got a 3-pointer from Dawnnae Roberts and a short jumper by Spotwood to close the gap to one, 48-47, with 1:05 on the clock.

Wiley gave SC State a 50-47 advantage on the Lady Bulldogs' trip down court, but Jeanine Manley, who led the Lady Eagles with 17 points, answered quickly, bringing Coppin to within 50-49 with 32 ticks left.

It was Wiley, again, pulling the trigger for SC State when she made a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner to give the Lady Bulldogs a four-point 53-49 edge with just under 20 seconds left. Then came a big play by Knotts, the smallest player on the court, when she took a charge from Coppin's Manley, nullifying a basket that would have sliced the margin to two with 10 seconds remaining.

SC State took possession and Knotts, after being fouled, made one of two from the line with 2.6 seconds left for the final margin. The Lady Bulldog victory was the rubber match in the series as the two teams split doing the season, with each winning on the road.

An elated SC State's Roberts praised his team but noted the final minutes were intense and the outcome in doubt.

"For most of the contest, we played about as well as we could play," Robertson said. "We have a lot of new and young players and things out intense at the end. I thought (when Coppin State got within one), well it looks like we were going back to Orangeburg and I didn't want to go back to Orangeburg.

"But, we had four guards on the floor," he continued, "and I told our players, on that last possession, to be patience. Then Hipps did a crossover, which I didn't want to see , but she found Wiley wide open and she made a great shot."

Coppin State's Derek Brown, whose team ended its season 10-19, said his team lacked intensity for most of the game.

Bolden, Isaac Lead No. 6 Bethune-Cookman Over No. 11 Norfolk State, 76-66

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Sarah Bolden scored a game-high 21 points off the bench, while teammate Jalisa Isaac added 17 points as No. 6 Bethune-Cookman defeated No. 11 Norfolk State in the opening round of the 2010 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday afternoon at the Joel Coliseum.

The Lady Wildcats advance to the quarterfinal round and will face No. 3 Morgan State at noon on Thursday.

The game was a close one from beginning to end. B-CU (16-14) scored the first four points of the game on a layup and two free throws by Jasmine Daniels. NSU (4-23) took a one-point lead, 9-8, on a basket by Batavia Owens with 16:19 left in the first half. The Spartans increased their lead to five, 15-10, after a layup by Raychele Payne at the 14:58 mark.

A pair of free throws by Demetria Frank with 2:58 left in the opening period put B-CU up by two, 35-33, and the Lady Wildcats outscored the Spartans 7-0  the rest of the way to take a 42-33 lead into halftime.

The Spartans went on a 7-0 run to start the second half to get within two, 42-40, after a layup by Whitney Long with 16:01 left in the game. But back-to-back 3-pointers by the Lady Wildcats opened up a seven-point lead.

The closest NSU could get after that was four, 62-58, after a jumper by Genor Dalton with 4:35 left. B-CU led by 12 in the final moments, but Marian Brooks scored a layup with nine seconds left to cut the final deficit to 10.

For B-CU, Daniels had 14 points, a game-high eight assists and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. Demetria Frank also scored in double figures with 10 points.

Payne and Brooks each had 16 points for NSU. Brooks, who notched her career-high in points, added eight rebounds and was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.

When asked about her team's effort in the game, head coach Debra Clark said, "We gave a good fight. Our girls gave all they had, but they just ran out of gas at the end of the game."