DURHAM, N.C. — Freshman
Dasmine Kasey drilled the go-ahead 3-pointer with 51.5 seconds left to propel the North Carolina Central University women's basketball team to a 62-57 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) victory over Coppin State University Saturday afternoon in McDougald-McLendon Arena.
NCCU outscored CSU 23-11 in the fourth quarter to complete the five-point win after trailing by as many as 14 points the third quarter. NC Central improved to 4-13 on the season and 1-3 in the league.
Kasey scored nine points on a trio of fourth-quarter 3-pointers. She only took three attempts from behind the arc all game, coming up clutch each time late. Kasey's third successful trey from the right corner off a long pass by sophomore Zara Atkins broke a 55-55 tie with under a minute to play. Coppin State missed its attempt at an equalizing 3-pointer and was forced to foul. Atkins then sealed the triumph by going 4-for-4 from the free throw line, including converting a pair at both 15.5 second and at 8.0 seconds.
Atkins and senior
Rodneysha Martin paced the victorious Eagles with 13 points apiece. Junior
Paulina Afriyie added her sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
NCCU was leading early, 5-4, after a midrange jumper by senior
Caira Benton, but Copping State scored the next 10 points to pull ahead for the rest of the half. CSU's lead grew to as many as 13 in the first quarter, but NCCU went on a 7-0 run to pull within six. The rally featured a fast break layup and 3-pointer by junior
Shontai Totten. However, junior forward Chance Graham scored as time expired to give Coppin State a 23-15 edge after 10 minutes.
The lead stretched to 11 points at halftime as CSU outrebounded NCCU 23-13 in the first half. Senior Brooke Fields was the catalyst as she scored 18 points of her game-high 25 points before the midway break.
NCCU made its first shot of the second half, but then missed its next 12 shot attempts to fall behind by 14 points. A Martin 3-pointer was their only other made shot of the period, but NCCU made 10-of-12 free throws in the third to close the deficit to seven, 46-39, heading in the final stanza.
A 3-point play by Afriyie and a jumper by Martin started NCCU's fourth-quarter rally before Kasey made back-to-back 3-pointers to put the host Eagles up 50-48. The lead grew to five points, but Coppin State was able to level the score one last time on a triple by Graham with 1:22 on the clock. Thirty seconds later, Atkins found Kasey with the long pass for the game-winning trifecta.
NCCU pretty much matched CSU on the boards in the second half and shot 60-percent in the fourth quarter. The victors also made 23 of its 30 free throw attempts (76.7%), including 18-of-22 (81.8%) in the second half.
Atkins was 9-for-9 from the free throw and added four assists and two steals to her 13 points. Totten and Benton finished with eight and six points, respectively. Martin chipped in five rebounds.
Graham tallied a double-double for Coppin State with 16 points and 11 rebounds. She also had three blocks, two assists and one steal. CSU slipped to 1-16 on the season and 1-4 in the conference.
NCCU next hosts MEAC foe Morgan State University in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee at 2 p.m.
