WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- A wild and enjoyable ride continued for eighth-seed South Carolina State Friday with a 63-50 victory over fourth-seeded Howard in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament at the Lawrence Joel Veteran Memorial Coliseum.
Coach Doug Robertson's team, which won its third consecutive game for the first time all season, will meet the winner of Friday's second semifinal matchup between number two Hampton and sixth-seeded Bethune-Cookman for the championship Saturday at 5 p.m. The contest will be telecast on a delayed basis Sunday at 11 a.m. on ESPNU.
SC State is making its first trip to the finals since the 1992-93 season when the Lady Bulldogs won the second of two straight titles under Lyman Foster, who was in stands during Friday's victory over the Lady Bison.
The Lady Bulldogs, who climbed to 14-18, got 15 points each from senior Sophilia Hipps and freshman Tiara Knotts. Knotts, who had nine of her total in the last 2:30 of the game and was 11-11 from the charity stripe in the game, tied for team rebounding honor with seven, matching the total of transfer Joi Walker.
Junior Whitney Wiley, the hero of SC State's two earlier tournament triumphs, added 14 points and Mary Baker contributed seven in the victory.
Howard, which reached the semifinals with a 56-54 win over Florida A&M on Thursday, was paced by Zykia Brown with 13 points and MEAC Rookie of the Year Saadia Doyle with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. The Lady Bison closed out their season at 16-14.
The Lady Bison, who lost their only regular-season meeting between the two teams 74-67 in Orangeburg, led 28-25 at the half and were ahead 36-33 with 15:25 to play, when Baker got a basket inside to trigger a 12-2 SC State run that put the Lady Bulldogs ahead 45-38 on two free throws by Hipps with 10:22 on the clock.
Doyle got a follow shot to pull Howard to within 45-40 at the 9:51 mark, but a short jumper by Joi Walker and a free throw by Baker put the Lady Bulldogs ahead 48-40 with 6:39 left on the clock.
Howard turned up the pressure on defense, creating back-to-back SC State turnovers and fueling a 9-6 Lady Bison run that closed the gap to 54-49 when Tamoria Holmes canned a 3-pointer with 1:15 remaining.
A quick timeout by Robertson steadied the Lady Bulldogs who scored nine of the game's final 10 points, with all but two coming from the charity stripe, five by Knotts and two by Wiley.
Robertson said after the game that he expected the contest to be an extremely difficult for his team. He praised his team and applauded the Lady Bulldog bench, led by Baker, which produced 28 points to just 10 from the Howard reserves.
“We expected a hard-fought contest,” Robertson said.” Their zone gave us some trouble but we were patient and found some gaps that we were able to take advantage of.
“And, I'm proud of our players, including Knotts, who played big as a freshman. Wiley did her usual thing and Hipps got going in the second half. I told my team before the game, we were playing for Hipps…we didn't want her career to end.
“This is the first time we have won three games in a row all season, and it came at a good time – in the tournament.”
A Spencer, NC native, Hipps said she was enjoying the team's new-found success
“The ride (winning) feels good,” she said. “I'm enjoying every moment of it. We started the game a little rocky but finally got going and showed some confidence. I'm ready for this ride to continue.”
Howard head coach Niki Geckeler said her young squad fell victim to a hot team
“Today, we caught a team that was playing well in South Carolina State,” she said. “That was demonstrated in their two previous games. They showed a lot of focus and we'd like to congratulate them.
“But, our future is bright,” she continued. “We have nine freshmen and will be losing only one senior so I'm excited.”
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