ORANGEBURG, SC – The South Carolina State women built a 13-point lead early in the final period, then beat back a Coppin State rally to earn a 60-55 Mid-Eastern Athletic win over the Lady Eagles and giving the Lady Bulldogs a sweep of the series this season. Coach Audra Smith's team defeated Coppin 75-59 Jan. 14 in Baltimore.

SC State, which rebounded from a 63-61 loss to Morgan State Saturday, improved to 12-12 overall and 5-5 in the MEAC. Rhein Beamon had 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Lady Bulldog effort, while Dashanique Peterson came off the bench for 10 points and nine boards. Esther Udonsi tossed in nine points and Jaquanna Murray and Taylor Brown contributed eight points each in the win.

Coppin's Brook Fields led all scorers with 21 points and added five assists for the Lady Eagles. Chance Graham added 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds and Kailya Coleman had 10 points in the loss.

"I'm happy we held on for the win, said SC State's Smith. "(Dashanique) Peterson came off the bench to give us a solid game and Rhein Beamon was steady playing at point guard and the off guard, and Esther (Udonsi) hit some big threes as she always does.

"We knocked down some big shots after they got close but I was not happy with our defensive effort," she continued. "We have to do a better job defensively. We allowed too much penetration by their guards. We finally went to a zone and slowed them down but we have to work on being better on defense if we are to have a chance Saturday against Bethune-Cookman, a very talented team."

Reserve Kyesha Lewis, who had four points for SC State, connected on a short jumper with 7:27 left to give SC State a 51-38 advantage but the Lady Eagles roared back behind the play of Graham, to pull to within 54-50 with 2:16 on the clock. Graham had eight points during the 12-3 Lady Eagle run.

Brown got a follow shot for SC State with 1:55 left and Beamon made one of two chances from the line to push the lead to 57-50 with 33.2 seconds left before Coleman connected on a 3-pointer to close the gap to 57-53 with just five seconds going off the clock.

Beamon made two from the line for a 59-53 SC State advantage with 27.3 seconds on the clock but Fields got a layup to close the gap to 59-55 with 23.1 left. Kemoni Jenkins, who finished with three points – all from the line for the Lady Bulldogs – made one of two free throws for the final margin.   

SC State led 17-8 after one and 34-28 at the half. The Lady Bulldogs were ahead 45-34 at the end of three periods.

Beamon had 10 first-half points, including two 3-pointers to lead SC State at the break. Coppin's Brook Fields, on 6-9 shooting, led all scorers at the half with 13 points.
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