Box Score ORANGEBURG, SC – The South Carolina State women were looking to close out a perfect three-game home stand Monday night against Coppin State but were unable to as the visiting Lady Eagles held Coach Doug Robertson's team to 26.7% shooting from the floor in grabbing a 57-39 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference victory.
Chrystal Whittington had 12 points and matched that total on the boards to lead the Lady Eagles. Leola Spotwood and Jeanine Manley added 11 points each in the win, which lifted Coppin to 7-9 and 2-1 in the MEAC.
The Lady Bulldogs, who did not have a single player reach double-digit scoring, were led by
Trinese Fox off the bench with nine points and seven rebounds.
Paris Alston added eight points and six boards, while
Tracey Flowers and
Tiara Knotts contributed six points each in the loss.
SC State, which had its modest two-game win streak snapped, fell to 7-8 overall and 2-2 in the league. Robertson's team had won four of five before Monday's setback.
SC State, which trailed 29-20 at the half, got the first basket to start the second stanza on a layup by Fox to close the gap to seven, but Coppin got the next five points -- all from Manley – to build its lead to 12, at 34-22 with 17:05 to play.
The Lady Bulldogs came to within eight twice, the last time at 44-36 with 7:50 to play but the Lady Eagles closed the game with 13-3 run to nab their second straight win, 57-39.
Coppin started the contest with an 8-0 run and built a 14 point lead twice in the opening half, the last time at 29-15 with 2:43 remaining before SC State scored the last five points of the half to close to within 29-20 at the break.
SC State made just 16-60 attempts from the field and missed all six attempts from behind the arc, while Coppin hit 37.7% of its shots, including 5-10 from three-point range. The Lady Eagles also won the rebounding battle, snaring 50 boards to 37 for SC State, whose only edge was in the turnover column as the Coppin committed 28 to 22 for SC State.
SC State begins a three-game MEAC road swing Saturday that will take Robertson's team to Daytona Beach, Tallahassee and Savannah to meet Bethune-Cookman (Jan. 14), Florida A&M (Jan. 16) and Savannah State (Jan. 21) before hosting Howard Jan. 30.
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