Feb. 20, 2010

Final Stats

DURHAM, N.C. - Six treys from junior guard Shanise Blanks lifted the North Carolina Central University Lady Eagles (9-15) to a 77-64 victory over the Chicago State Lady Cougars (10-17) Saturday afternoon in the second annual Eagles 4 a Cure event at McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium.

The Lady Eagles took the court in their pink uniforms in honor of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Pink Zone initiative, a global, unified effort to raise breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. NCCU remains undefeated when wearing pink, sitting at 4-0 in "Think Pink" games.

"This means a lot to us," said NCCU head coach Joli Robinson. "I have family and friends who are breast cancer survivors, so it does have a special meaning to me. This is an awesome idea that they've had to have all the schools buy into Pink Zone games."

Four NCCU student athletes scored in double-figures for the fourth time this season, including Blanks, who put on a career performance, hitting a career-high 22 points with 18 coming from the 3-point line. She was three 3-pointers shy of tying the NCCU single-game record of nine. The junior went 7-for-16 on the night and added four steals in 35 minutes of action. She is currently shooting 40.3 percent from behind the arc.

"I have a lot of confidence in my shot," said Blanks. "I worked at it a lot over the summer, but it actually comes from my coaches and my teammates. Without them, I still wouldn't be shooting. They were looking for me to shoot it and so I just took the shot. I didn't want to let them down."

Joanna Miller returned from an injury to jump right back into form. Miller, who was forced to sit out the previous two games, returned to notch her second double-double of the season with 12 points and a season-high 11 boards. She also added a game-high six assists in 33 minutes of action. Latoya Bennett added 14 points and was 6-for-7 from the charity stripe, while Blaire Houston totaled 13 points.

For the second consecutive game, the Lady Eagles put on a better shooting performance than their opponents, dominating in field goal percentage (45.3), 3-point field goal percentage (42.1) and free throw percentage (80.8). NCCU also won the battle of the boards as they out-rebounded Chicago State, 37-32.

The game belonged to the Lady Eagles as they led in just about every category, including points off turnovers, second chance points, fast break points and bench points. Chicago State managed to defeat NCCU in only two categories. The Lady Cougars had three blocks and scored 26 points in the paint compared to NCCU's 22.

Chicago State was led by Tressa Beckel with 15 points, while Lady Cougar leading scorer Courtney Waldon notched 12 points off a 4-for-14 shooting outing with all of her points coming from long range. Janay Dockery led the team in rebounds and steals with eight and four, respectively. They shot 39.7 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from behind the arc. With only 17 looks at the foul line, the Lady Cougars hit 64.7 percent.

NCCU jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead within the first 5:21 of play. Chicago State had one lead in the first half and it came at the 19:30 mark when they scored the first bucket of the ballgame. The Lady Eagles managed to put a strong-hold on the lead, not allowing Chicago State to jump out in front as they went into the break with a 40-36 lead, allowing the Lady Cougars to get within one on just one occasion.

The second stanza saw a much different Lady Cougar team. A team that struggled to find a lead in the first half managed to take their largest lead in the second half when they led by eight at the 12:00 mark. Coming out of intermission, the Waldon sisters each knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 42, the second tie of the game.

"In the course of a ballgame, you're going to have momentum changes," added Robinson. "Fortunately, we were able to pull back out of it when they went on their run. We made some substitutions that changed some chemistry and settled us down a little bit. We didn't panic and didn't drop our heads when things weren't going well for us."

The third tie came shortly after when a layup by Alyssa Waldon would tie the game at 44 and eventually sparked a 10-2 run by Chicago State to give them an eight-point lead. Six of those points were scored by a Waldon. NCCU came back from eight points down to rally back with a 13-4 run that would allow the Lady Eagles to reclaim the lead at the 7:48 mark.

From that point on it was all about the Lady Eagles as they controlled the rest of the second half, leading by as many as 15 with 15 second left in regulation. The last 7:48 saw NCCU score 18 points to close out the game on an 18-6 run that would give NCCU a 13-point victory over Chicago State.

"Basketball is a game of runs," said Bennett. "It was their turn to get one in, in the second half. We just made sure we came in and got ours and finished off the game. We `re playing great at home and really good as a team."

NCCU improved to 9-15 on the season, just one-game shy of tying their winning record from last season. They also tied the series with the Lady Cougars at one win apiece, while increasing their advantage against Great West Conference opponents with a 3-1 lead. Chicago State dropped to 10-17 on the season.

The Lady Eagles have now won 41 of their 51 home contests since the start of the 2005-06 campaign. This season, NCCU is 6-3 on its home court and hasn't lost at home since Jan. 2, 2010 when they fell to North Carolina A&T State University. They are currently riding a five-game home winning streak.

"We were playing for all the women and everybody who's been through breast cancer," added Blanks. "They beat us last year, so we had to come back and get them, and we got them. We're not going to lose on our home court."

NCCU will stay close to the nest when they head down the highway to Winston-Salem, N.C. to face Atlantic Coast Conference-member Wake Forest University on Monday, Feb. 22 in the Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. The Demon Deacons hold a slight 2-1 advantage in the series.

For more information on Lady Eagle basketball, visit the official website of NCCU Athletics at www.NCCUEaglePride.com.