BALTIMORE – Eleven home games along with three trips to teams that participated in the 2015 NCAA Tournament highlight the Coppin State women’s basketball schedule released Wednesday morning.
Another nice attraction is the home finale against cross-town rival Morgan State, which will also serve as Coppin State’s homecoming.
Featuring an experienced roster with 11 players returning, the Lady Eagles are prepared for their challenging slate that features non-conference contests against five schools they played last year. Coppin State advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament.
“We always enjoy playing a challenging schedule,” veteran Coppin State head women’s basketball coach Derek Brown said. “The ladies are looking forward to playing some of the best basketball programs in the country. It’s good preparation for our program to see a mixture of styles and opponents. Our goal is to be ready to compete consistently at a high level once we begin conference play and our non-conference schedule will help us in making that a reality.”
Coppin State begins its 2015-16 season with a pair of road games against Virginia Commonwealth (Friday, Nov. 13) and WNIT runner-up West Virginia (Monday, Nov. 16). Following that quick two-game road trip to begin the season, the Lady Eagles begin a four-game stretch where they face all Maryland opponents, with three of the games inside of the Physical Education Complex.
Coppin State’s home opener is on Thursday, Nov. 19 against UMBC. After a cross-town visit to Towson on Sunday, Nov. 22, the Lady Eagles return home to face Mount St. Mary’s (Sunday, Nov. 29) and Bowie State (Wednesday, Dec. 2).
The Lady Eagles finish December with six games, two at neutral sites. Highlighting the December slate are consecutive road games against NCAA participants Miami (Friday, Dec. 4) and Syracuse (Wednesday, Dec. 9). Both Miami and Syracuse advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The ACC opponents don’t end there for Coppin State as it faces Virginia Tech (Sunday, Dec. 13) and Virginia (Monday, Dec. 28) in the first round of the University of Virginia Tournament.
Coppin State begins its 16-game MEAC conference slate by hosting Norfolk State on Monday, Jan. 4. In addition to Norfolk State, Coppin State will play home-and-home sets against Delaware State, Morgan State and Howard. The Lady Eagles’ longest homestand is a three-game set against North Carolina A&T (Saturday, Jan. 23), North Carolina Central (Monday, Jan. 25) and Maryland Eastern Shore (Saturday, Jan. 30).
February features a trip to MEAC Tournament champion and NCAA participant Savannah State (Monday, Feb. 8) as well as a home contest against WNIT participant Hampton (Monday, Feb. 22). Coppin State ends the regular season on the road against Delaware State (Thursday, March 3). The MEAC Tournament will be held at the Norfolk Scope Arena from March 7-12.
Coppin State returns its top two scorers in seniors Jordan Swails (11.3 points per game) and Janelle Lane (10.0 ppg.). Swails was named to the MEAC All-Tournament team after averaging 14.5 points in Coppin State’s two postseason games.
Sophomore guard Genesis Lucas earned a spot on the MEAC All-Rookie Team after averaging 12.8 points per game, 4.2 assists per contest, 1.7 steals per outing in the final 15 games when she entered the starting lineup. Senior guard Amber Griffin led the Lady Eagles in assists with 96, which was fifth in the MEAC last season.