DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University women's basketball team brings a winning non-conference home record into its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) home game when the Eagles host rival South Carolina State University inside McDougald-McLendon Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m.
GAME NOTES No. 18 vs. SCSU
GAME INFO
Saturday, Jan. 14 at 2 p.m., in Durham, N.C.
South Carolina State at NC Central
LIVE STATS;
WATCH (NCCU Sports Network)
NC CENTRAL BASKETBALL
The Eagles dropped their first two MEAC games of the season in Baltimore last week, losing at Morgan State (81-71) on Saturday and Coppin State (72-67) on Monday. NCCU (6-11 Overall, 0-2 MEAC) – picked sixth out of eight teams in the MEAC Preseason Women's Basketball Predicted Order of Finish poll – enters its MEAC home opener with a 4-3 record at home this season.
Freshman guard
Jerni Kiaku was named MEAC Rookie of the Week for a fourth time this season after averaging 11.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals in three games last week. Kiaku leads the maroon and gray in scoring as a rookie and she ranks eighth in the conference with an average of 11.6 points per game. She also ranks fifth in the MEAC with 1.9 steals per game and 10th in the league with 2.1 assists per game.
Junior guard
Kimeira Burks ranks just one spot behind Kiaku in ninth place in scoring within the league, averaging 11.4 points per game in her first season at NCCU. Burks continues to lead the MEAC in both major 3-point shooting categories with an average of 2.6 made 3-pointer per game and a .420 3-point field goal shooting percentage.
NCCU is the top scoring team in the MEAC with an average of 68.1 points per game and the Eagles use balanced scoring with nearly every active player scoring in each game. The trio of sophomore
Morgan Callahan (8.9 PPG), senior
Kira Lowery (8.1 PPG) and sophomore
Aniya Finger (7.9 PPG) are all averaging within one point of each other to round out NCCU's top-5 scorers.
Finger (5.7 RPG) and Callahan (4.9 RPG) join junior
Blessing Okoh (5.2 RPG) as NCCU's top three rebounders. Lowery (3.1 APG) and junior
Tippy Robertson (2.7 APG) are NCCU's top playmakers while eight different Eagles are averaging at least one steal per game for a squad that ranks sixth nationally with an average of 23.59 turnovers forced per game.
NC Central split its season series against SCSU last season with the home team winning each game. After the Bulldogs defeated the Eagles 63-51 in Orangeburg in January, NCCU avenged that loss with an 84-74 win in the two programs last meeting on March 3, 2022 in Durham. Lowery scored 19 points in that triumph.
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE VOLLEYBALL
The Bulldogs have lost their last four games, including a 71-51 road setback to Furman University in their last game on Jan. 1. South Carolina State (1-14 Overall, 0-0 MEAC) was picked seventh in the preseason poll and will be playing its first league game on Saturday.
Sophomore guard Nicole Gwynn is leading the Bulldogs in points and assists for a second straight season. Gwynn, who earned Third Team All-MEAC and MEAC All-Rookie honors last season, was a Preseason All-MEAC Second Team selection this season. Gwynn is averaging 9.8 points and 1.9 assists per game this campaign.
Junior guard Nadia Reese (8.0 PPG) and sophomore guard Lovely Sonnier (7.8 PPG) are SCSU's next two top scorers. Sonnier also ranks second in the MEAC in two major statistical categories with averages of 7.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game while ranking seventh in the league with 1.8 steals per game.
Gwynn averaged 25 points per game in South Carolina State's two games against NCCU last season. The Bulldogs are 15-10 all-time against the Eagles.
