DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina Central University enters the 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Women's Basketball Championship Tournament as the ninth seed and will open up postseason play against eighth-seeded Delaware State University in the first round at the Norfolk Scope Arena on Tuesday at 1 p.m.
For complete coverage of the 2019 MEAC Basketball Championships, fans are encouraged to visit
MEAChoops.com. An audio webcast of all NCCU postseason games will be available for free on the
NCCU Sports Network with
Jonathan Duren providing the play-by-play. The league office will also be providing live stats as well as video of all games being available on
Flohoops.com ($). Fans can follow the NC Central athletics all season on
NCCUEaglePride.com and on social media by searching NCCUAthletics (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) or women's basketball at @NCCUWBB (Twitter) or @nccu_wbb (Instagram).
NCCU (8-21, 5-11) finished the regular season in a three-way tie for eighth place in the league standings. The Eagles are coming off an 86-52 road loss at North Carolina A&T State University on Thursday in which they shot a season-low 27.4-percent from the field. Senior guard
Rodneysha Martin and junior forward
Paulina Afriyie were both selected Third Team All-MEAC on Friday after they both averaged 13 points per game in the regular season. Afriyie leads NCCU with 13.1 points per game, 9.0 rebounds per game and a 42.9% field goal percentage. Afriyie has nine double-doubles on the season and is second on the squad with 1.2 blocks per game. Martin follows Afriyie with 13.0 points per game and ranks in the top-10 of the league in free throw percentage (73.4%) and 3-point field goal percentage (30.0%).
Delaware State (7-20, 5-11) won three of its last five games to move into a three-way tie for eighth place with NCCU. The Hornets, who went 7-5 at home this season, went winless on the road during the regular season at 0-15. Senior forward NaJai Pollard was selected the MEAC Player of the Year on Friday while earning First Team All-MEAC honors for a third consecutive season. Pollard ranks eighth nationally with 22.7 points per game and she is the only player in the MEAC averaging a double-double on the season with 10.3 rebounds per game (14 double-doubles). Junior guard Lanayjha Ashe is DSU's other double-digit scorer with an average of 13 points per game. Ashe also ranks sixth in the MEAC with 3.4 assists per game.
NCCU and DSU split the regular season series this year with the home team winning both times. The Hornets won the first meeting 71-61 in Dover behind a monster double-double of 31 points and 15 rebounds by Pollard. The Eagles built a 10-point halftime lead in the second showdown in Durham, only for the Hornets to rally back. However, a last-minute jumper by Martin propelled NCCU to the narrow 65-64 win. Pollard had another double-double (27 points, 10 rebounds), but the Eagles used balanced scoring and outrebounded DSU 41-31 in the triumph. Afriyie scored 14 points for the maroon and gray in both tilts and martin averaged 13 points per game.
The winner of the NCCU/DSU game will advance to the quarterfinals and play top-seeded North Carolina A&T on Wednesday at Noon.
Complete Game Notes can be found at….
GAME NOTES NO. 30: No. 9 NC Central vs. No. 8 Delaware State
