Women's Basketball MEAC Media Relations

MEAC Basketball Tournament Day Four: Women's Recap

Buzzer-beater Lifts Howard Over Morgan State, 62-60

Norfolk, Va. - Nicole Deterville scored on a missed shot at the buzzer to give Howard a, 62-60 win over Morgan State in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Men’s and Women’s Tournament at the Norfolk  Scope Arena.

The Lady Bison (19-10), the number three seed, will take on North Carolina A&T, the number two seed, in Friday’s semifinal at 2:30 p.m.

Morgan State (13-18), the number six seed, almost pulled off the upset, courtesy of play of Bianca Jarrett . Jarrett poured in a career-high 34 points, including several clutch baskets that put her team in a position to win.

Jarrett set the tone in the first half when she scored 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.  Howard was able to counter on the production of Cheyenne Curley Payne, who led the Lady Bison with 12 points.  The score was deadlocked at 29 at the half.

Howard, a senior-laden team, appeared out of sync through the first half and could be attributed to the team’s long layoff.  The Lady Bison last played on March 2.

“There was some concern with that coming in and you saw it in the first half,” said Howard head coach Nikki Reid Geckeler.  “We talked about it at halftime and we settled in to adjusting to being in a competitive mode.”

There was more of the same to come in the second half.  Jarrett continued her assault on the Howard defense, but she got help from teammates Jameisa Smith and Tracey Carrington, who combined for 14 second-half points.

Howard threatened to put some distance between them and Morgan State when Jarrett picked up her third foul and Saadia Doyle began to show why she is the all-time leading scorer in MEAC history.  The senior guard scored 10 of her team’s 14 points during a run midway through the second half that gave Howard its biggest lead at 52-43 with 9:44 remaining.

That all changed when Jarrett returned to the floor and fueled a run that got her team back into the game.  First she made one of two free-throws to get the Lady Bears to within 58-57 at the 2:39 mark.  Both teams then went through a scoreless stretch until Doyle canned a 10-foot baseline jumper with 39 seconds remaining to push the lead to 60-57.

Following a 30-seoond timeout, Jarrett worked an in-and-out, step-back move that resulted in an 3- pointer that hit the bottom of the net with 24 seconds on the clock.  Following a Howard timeout, the Lady Bison set up a shot for Doyle, who missed, and after a frantic scramble, the ball ended up in Detervile’s hands and the senior center laid the ball up on the backboard.  The shot teasingly rolled around on the rim before settling in the nets as the buzzer sounded.

“We got outrebounded all year long,” said Morgan State Coach Donald Beasley.  “I just don’t have the post that can go get rebounds.  It went down to the wire.  You can’t get any better than that.  You have to give them credit. Their seniors crashed the boards and they wanted it.”

Carrington chipped in with 12 points for Morgan State and Smith tallied eight points.

Doyle, a first team All-MEAC selection, recorded a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds while Payne also finished with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four assists and two steals.

“It was a tough game and we are all happy that we were able to pull it out,” said Payne, second all-time in assists and steals in school history.  “We have been here before so we just hung in there and fought through it.  It was a good win.”

Last-Second Shot Saves Coppin State, Will Face Top Seeded Hampton In Semifinals

Norfolk, Va. - Shawntae Payne scored on a running hook shot with seconds left to lift Coppin State to a 55-53 win over South Carolina State in the final quarterfinal match of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Women’s and Men’s Tournament at the Norfolk Scope Arena. The Lady Eagles (15-15) advance to Friday’s semifinal round against Hampton, the number one seed, atnoon. In the other semifinal game, North Carolina A&T, the number 2 seed, will take on Howard, the number three seed, at 2:30 p.m.

After South Carolina State’s Cabriel Duren nailed a 3-pointer with 1:01 remaining, the Lady Bulldogs looked to be in control of the outcome. But the Lady Eagles had other ideas. First Leola Spotwood made it interesting when Payne scored on a layup with 46 seconds to cut the deficit to 53-50.

“I had a lot of confidence, but maybe I was a little too confident with the five-point lead and a minute to go,” said South Carolina State head coach Doug Robertson.

The Lady Bulldogs failed to score on their next possession and Coppin State capitalized when Spotwood buried a three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining. South Carolina State was called for an offensive foul on the ensuing possession and Payne made them pay.

“I saw six seconds left on the clock and I knew that there was nothing else to do but shoot it and I did,” said Payne, who finished with 10 points and 5 assists.

South Carolina State (20-9) took control early and used a decided 22-6 advantage in the paint to build a 30-21 halftime lead. Eight different players scored, led by Trinese Fox’s 8 points. The Lady Bulldogs also held an advantage in bench points (9-4), in second chance points (13-7) and in points-off -turnovers (7-0).

Coppin State came out in the second half and slowly worked its way back into the game as Spotwood and Kyra Coleman proved to be effective in the post area, combining for 20 second-half points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor. Even more importantly was the change in defense that forced South Carolina State into 7-of-20 shooting and nine turnovers.

“We changed from man to man to a matchup zone in the second half,” explained Coppin State Coach Derek Brown. “It worked for two thirds of the half and they started dissecting it. At the end, I went back to man-to-man. If we had lost this game, it would have been my fault for going back to the man to man.”

Spotwood led all scorers with 18, Coleman with 16 and Payne with 10. Duren came off the bench to lead lead her team with 11 points while Ashley Clarke and Fox each contributed 10.