DURHAM, N.C. –North Carolina Central University will enter the 2023 MEAC Women's Basketball Tournament with its best seeding since joining the league. The Eagles will open up play in the Norfolk Scope Arena as the fourth seed and will play fifth-seeded Coppin State University in the quarterfinals on Thursday at noon.
 
GAME NOTES No. 30: NCCU vs. CSU, MEAC Quarters
 
NCCU GAME INFO

Thursday, March 9 (Quarterfinals), 12 p.m.
No. 5 Coppin State vs. No. 4 NC Central
WATCH (ESPN+), LIVE STATS
 
Friday, March 10 (Semifinals, if advance), 12 p.m.

Saturday, March 11 (Championship Game, if advance), Approx. 4 p.m.

MEAC TOURNAMENT INFO
Bracket; Event Website; Tickets

NC CENTRAL BENCH
 
The Eagles ended the regular season with a 61-47 road win at South Carolina State University on Thursday, March 2. That noteworthy victory was NCCU's 14th win of the season, setting a new single-season record for wins since the Eagles started its transition to the NCAA Division I ranks (2007-08).
 
NC Central (14-15 Overall, 8-6 MEAC) finished in the upper half of the conference standings, securing sole possession of fourth place (one position better than its fifth seed in 2019-20). The Eagles have only won once in the quarterfinals, defeating North Carolina A&T State University in 2020 (but NCCU never played in the semifinals due to the coronavirus pandemic).
 
The guard tandem of junior Kimeira Burks (11.9 PPG) and freshman Jerni Kiaku (10.9 PPG) rank eighth and 11th in the league in scoring on the way to earning All-MEAC honors this season. Burks, who had been named MEAC Player of the Week three times, was named Second Team All-MEAC after she finished the regular season as the MEAC's top 3-point shooter with an average of 2.7 made 3-pointers per game and a .390 three-point field goal percentage. Kiaku, who collected six MEAC Rookie of the Week awards this season, was selected Third Team All-MEAC, MEAC Rookie of the Year and MEAC All-Rookie Team.
 
Senior guard Kira Lowery (8.1 PPG) is playing a team-best 30 minutes per game and is third in the MEAC with 3.3 assists per game. Junior Tippy Robertson (5.2 PPG, 2.6 APG, 1.5 SPG) and Kiaku (2.3 APG, 1.5 SPG) join Lowery as three of the top dozen playmakers in the league.
 
Sophomore Morgan Callahan is 10th in the MEAC with 5.9 rebounds per game while junior Tianna Carter (7.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG) and Aniya Finger (8.0 PPG, 6.9 RPG) has strengthened NCCU's post presence in more limited action this season due to injuries. Finger has five double-doubles this season.
 
The Eagles remain the top scoring team in the MEAC (67.3 PPG) with the best field goal percentage in the conference (39.5%). NCCU also ranks eighth nationally with 21.41 turnovers forced per game.
 
NCCU split its regular season series against the other "Eagles" program in the league. Coppin State won the first meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, by a 72-67 margin on Jan. 9, before NC Central avenged that loss with a 67-54 triumph in Durham on Feb. 13.
 
Burks had team-high totals of 19 points and six rebounds against CSU in the road loss. Finger posted a double-double in NCCU's triumph over Coppin State with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Carter, who did not play in the first meeting also flirted with a double-double with a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds. Kiaku averaged nine points and four assists per game in the season series against CSU.
 
COPPIN STATE BENCH
 
Coppin State (8-21 Overall, 5-9 MEAC) finished in a three-way tie for fifth place in the league standings and got the best seed out of those three teams by winning a head-to-head tiebreaker with those teams. CSU won two of its last three regular season games to help move up to that position.
 
Sophomore wing Jewel Watkins (14.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.0 SPG) and junior guard Mossi Staples (13.1 PPG, 3,9 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.7 SPG) enter the tourney ranked third and fifth in the MEAC in scoring, respectively, on the way to both earning Second Team All-MEAC honors this season. Watkins also collected MEAC All-Defensive Team accolades this campaign.
 
Sophomore Hope Evans has moved into a starting position this season and is third on the team with 7.1 points per game and fifth in the MEAC with 2.7 assists per game, just ahead of Staples. Classmate Colleen Bucknor (6.1 PPG) is third in the MEAC with 7.8 rebounds per game.
 
Staples averaged 17.0 points per game in the 2022-23 season series sweep of NCCU and then tallied 26 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals in CSU's five-point win over the NCCU Eagles on Jan. 9 this season. Staples followed with another strong performance of 16 points and eight rebounds in February, but NCCU was able to end its losing streak to Coppin State in that last showdown. Watkins reached double digits in both games against NCCU this season for a two-game average of 14.5 points per game. Coppin State is 11-7 all-time against NC Central.
 
OTHER TEAMS AT THE MEAC TOURNAMENT:
 
Norfolk State University (23-6, 11-3) won the regular season title and will be the top seed in the 2023 MEAC Championship. The Spartans open up in the quarterfinals against eighth-seeded South Carolina State University (3-26, 2-12) on Wednesday.
 
The winner of the NCCU/CSU game will play the winner of the NSU/SCSU game in the semifinals on Friday at noon.
 
In the other half of the bracket, Morgan State University (17-10, 10-4) and Howard University (14-13, 10-4) finished in a tie for second in the league standings and the Bears got the tiebreaker edge for the second seed. MSU will play seventh-seeded University of Maryland Eastern Shore (9-19, 5-9) in a quarterfinals game on Wednesday and the winner of that contest will play the winner of Thursday's final quarterfinals game between the defending tournament champion Howard Bison and sixth-seeded Delaware State University (7-18, 5-9).
 
The championship game is scheduled to be played after the MEAC Men's Basketball Tournament championship game on Saturday. The men's championship game will tipoff at 1 p.m. and the women's game will follow approximately one hour after the conclusion of that contest.