By Chris Stevens
The top four seeds in the women’s bracket of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference made it through to Friday’s semifinal round following Coppin State and North Carolina Central Thursday wins.
The 4th-seeded Eagles were tangled up in a battle with No. 5 seed Maryland-Eastern Shore that was closer than the 61-55 final indicates.
A competitive first half saw the Fighting Hawks (15-15) leading 27-25 at halftime following a nifty spin move layup and free throw by guard Chaniqwa Gilliam.
Coppin State (12-17) rallied behind junior forward Laila Lawrence, who scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds, 12 points from guard Angel Jones and 8 points from Tiffany Hammond.
The Eagles led by as many as nine points (51-42) after a Lawrence layup, but UMES closed to within 58-55 after a Cache Wilson layup. The Hawks couldn’t get any closer as a free throw by Jones and two more by Mossi Staples closed out the scoring.
Coppin State now advances to play top-seed Norfolk State in Friday’s semifinals. Gilliam and forward Lainey Allen led Maryland-Eastern Shore with 10 points each.
North Carolina Central meanwhile held off a determined Delaware State team 66-56 to secure a date with No. 2 seed Howard in the semis.
Delaware State (8-20) led 46-38 in the third quarter, but an 11-0 Eagle run between the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth quarter, capped by a Morgan Callahan layup, gave Central (16-14) the lead for good. A Kimiera Burks three-pointer with 2 1/2 minutes to go opened a 60-50 lead for NCCU, and they held serve the rest of the way.
Burks led the Eagles with 13 points, Aniya Finger added 12 points and ten rebounds and Janiah Jones contributed 11 points. Denijsha Wilson and Savannah Brooks led Delaware State with 16 points each.
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