VCU 73, Coppin State 44

Seton Hall 74, Savannah State 60

Bethune-Cookman 55, Edward Waters 45

North Florida 71, Florida A&M 60

Northwestern 67, Hampton 48

UNC Wilmington 64, Norfolk State 56

Maryland Eastern Shore 75, Cheyney 38

Brown 83, Howard 78

Detroit Mercy 90, Delaware State 71

Pfeiffer 50, North Carolina Central 47

Georgia 64, South Carolina State 50

Georgia Southern 65, North Carolina A&T State 50

RICHMOND, Va. – Senior guard Keena Samuels finished with a team-high 11 points in the Coppin State women’s basketball season opener at Virginia Commonwealth University on Friday, Nov. 11. The Rams defeated the Eagles 73-44 inside the Siegel Center.

Keena Samuels scored five of her 11 points in the fourth quarter as Coppin State shot their highest quarter percentage of the morning at 38.5 percent. She scored four points in the first quarter and two in the second.

Freshman Chance Graham was a bright spot for the Eagles grabbing 11 rebounds in her collegiate debut. Graham recorded seven defensive rebounds and finished with seven points. The Upper Marlboro, Md. rookie converted on 5-of-7 attempts from the charity stripe and was the Eagles leading scorer in the second period with seven points.

Graduate Vanessa Neal added much needed scoring with a career-high nine points on 4-of-11 made shots from the field. Neal led CSU in third quarter scoring with six points draining 3-of-5 attempts.

Junior Candice Beverly tied her career-high with seven points against VCU. Beverly was efficient from the field leading the Eagles on 50-percent shooting. In the second quarter Beverly had five of 15 points by the Eagles.

Red-shirt junior Genesis Lucas scored six points, grabbed four rebounds, had a team-high three steals and dished out a pair of assists. Lucas played the most minutes on the team registering 33 against the Rams.  

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Savannah State University women’s basketball team narrowly fell to Seton Hall University 74-60 Friday to open the 2016-17 season in Walsh Gymnasium.

Graduate student guard Lauren “Gaby” Moss led the team with 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the floor, including 4-for-6 from the 3-point line and added four rebounds and two assists, while senior center Tiyonda Davis led the team with 14 rebounds and added 16 points for a double-double.  Davis shot 5-for-11 from the floor and added two assists, a block and a steal.

Senior forward Jeremica Edwards recorded 13 rebounds, four points and three assists, while senior guard Kenyata Hendrix added 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting, four assists, three rebounds and a steal. 

The Pirates were led by JaQuan Jackson with 21 points, LaTecia Smith with 16 points and five rebounds and Kaela Hilaire with 10 points and six assists.

EVANSTON, Ill. --  A 17-4 second quarter proved to be too much in the season opener for Hampton University as they fell 67-48 to Northwestern University at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Friday afternoon.

 Hampton opened the game getting three-pointers from Monnzajea Finney-Smith and Malia Tate-DeFreitas to jump out to an early 8-6 advantage.   A swarming defense helped push the lead to as much as eight points in the opening period on a K’Lynn Willis three-point play gave Hampton a 15-7 lead with 1:12 left.

 Finney-Smith finished the Hampton scoring in the first draining her third triple from the right corner as Hampton held an 18-10 lead after one.

 Leading Hampton in her first game was Finney-Smith with 16 points.  Georgianna Gilbeaux and Jephany Brown were next with six points each. 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  – A cold shooting fourth quarter was the difference Friday evening, as the FAMU Women’s Basketball team opened the 2016-17 season with a 71-60 road loss to North Florida at the UNF Arena.

Junior college transfer Shakerrya Morrison led the way for FAMU with 13 points and nine rebounds, followed by guard Cedricka Sweeting with eight points, and the duo of London Holland and Ecenur Yurdakul, who scored seven points each.

Yurdakul and Florence Ouattara (6 points) each pulled down seven rebounds for FAMU Friday.

UNF’s Claire Joannidis led all scorers with 22 points, going a blistering 6-for-6 from three-point range, followed Tesh Hanson, who turned in a double-double, with 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Howard women’s basketball team could not overcome a late push by Brown University for an 83-78 loss on Friday night to open the 2016-17 season at Pizzitola Sports Center.

Redshirt senior Te’Shya Heslip led the charge for the Bison with a game-high 23 points, which included five three-pointers. She also had nine assists and five steals.

Redshirt junior Erin Blaine scored a career-high 17 points and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line, while Rookie Asia McCants tallied double digits with 10 points. Senior Sydni Johnson, a Preseason All-MEAC Third Team selection, pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. 

DURHAM, N.C. – Freshman guard Jada Blow scored a team-high 15 points and put host North Carolina Central University in the lead at the 1:26 mark of the fourth quarter with her third 3-pointer of the evening before Pfeiffer scored the contests final seven points in the last 40 seconds to claim a 50-47 victory on Friday in McDougald-McLendon Arena.

Junior forward Kierona Morton knocked down two free throws to extend NCCU’s edge to 47-43 with 57 ticks left before the Falcons flew ahead in the final moments.

Senior center Lauren Janka started Pfeiffer’s closing run with a layup. The Falcons missed two free throws on their next possession but a big offensive rebound by senior forward Ariana Tillman off the second miss set up a go-ahead three-pointer by sophomore guard Sydni Binkford. Pfeiffer made one of two attempts from the free throw line on their final two possessions to cap the finishing flurry.

NCCU committed three of its 19 turnovers in the final minute to aid the visitors rally. The Lady Eagles did have the ball for the final five seconds, but a last-ditch drive down the lane resulted in a missed shot with no foul call drawn at the final horn.

Senior guard Meg Pritchard led the victors with 20 points. Janka netted a double-double of 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Tillman finished with 11 boards.

WILMINGTON, N.C. –Jenny DeGraaf recorded a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds to lead UNC Wilmington to a 64-56 victory over Norfolk State in the season-opener for both teams Friday evening at Trask Coliseum.

The difference was the hot-shooting of host UNCW in the first quarter. The Seahawks used an 18-4 run over the final four minutes and 38 seconds of the quarter, taking a 28-12 lead into the second period.

Madison Raque added 14 points and Rebekah Banks grabbed 10 rebounds and scored nine points for the Seahawks (1-0). UNCW shot 57 percent in the first quarter, making six 3-pointers in the stanza.

Senior guards Dominique Harper and Jordan Strode led the way for the Spartans. Harper registered 14 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Strode, a St. Joe’s transfer, tallied a career-high 14 points, with three rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal. 

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – In their season opener, sophomore guard Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, N.C.) guided the Hawks to victory as they knocked off Cheyney, 75-38, inside the William P. Hytche Athletic Center.

With the win, Eastern Shore (1-0) picked up their first season opening victory in six years. Furthermore, The Shore extended its regular-season winning streak to seven, dating back to last season.

All 12 Hawks who played scored, led by Eaton with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Defensively, the North Carolina product also set a new career best in steals with four thefts.

Other notable Hawks included junior Alexus Hicks tallying 10 points on 50-percent (4-of-8) shooting from the floor. Senior Mariah McCoy nearly earned a double-double as she ended with nine points and eight boards in the victory.

For Cheyney (0-1), they were held to under 20-percent (12-of-61) from the floor. After intermission, the Wolves could not find any rhythm as they recorded only 12 points. TaKayla Ellis and Briana Hedgepeth each had nine points in a losing effort.