Feb. 16, 2008

Final Stats

The North Carolina Central University Lady Eagles finished out their season at home by defeating the Lady Blue Bears of Livingstone College 59-45 Saturday night.

The Lady Eagles used a strong inside presence and good defense to keep LC in check. The Lady Eagles struggled offensively hitting just 36 percent of their shots in the first half, but shot a blazing 48 percent in the second half.

NCCU also enjoyed a significant edge in rebounding, pulling down 34 rebounds to only 25 for LC. NCCU used 16 offensive rebounds into 18 second chance get plenty of easy scoring opportunities.

The Lady Blue Bears held a 27-22 cushion at the half.

The Lady Eagles cruised in the second half, as the Lady Blue Bears could not find any offensive consistency.

Senior Jennifer Hukill led the Lady Eagles with 15 points, shooting 4-for-7 from three-point range. The Lady Eagles were also paced with 14 points 10 boards by Latoya Bennett for her seventh double-double of the season.

LaVonna Hailey had a season-high of seven steals and dished out five assists for the Lady Eagles. Sophomore forward Keyonta Thacker contributed eight points and rookie Shakeyna Adams came off the bench to add six points and seven rebounds.

LC had only one player in double figures. Lina Brown had 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field.

This was also senior night as NCCU said goodbye to seniors Jennifer Hukill and Casey Daniel.

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THE HERALD-SUN (www.heraldsun.com)

NCCU ends season on high note

By MIKE POTTER : The Herald-Sun mpotter@heraldsun.com; 419-6604

Feb 17, 2008

DURHAM -- Jennifer Hukill wasn't about to lose her final college basketball game.

And in the second half Saturday, N.C. Central's best-ever 3-point shooter helped her team get over the hump.

The senior guard poured in 15 points, including 4-for-7 from outside the arc, to lead NCCU to a 59-45 win over former CIAA rival Livingstone in the Eagles' Senior Day women's game at McLendon-McDougald Gym.

NCCU wore pink uniforms as part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "Think Pink" Initiative, a nationwide effort to increase breast cancer awareness.

The win, NCCU's fifth straight on its home court, gave the Eagles a final record of 6-20 in their first season in NCAA Division I. Livingstone fell to 6-18.

Sophomore post player Latoya Bennett also came up big for the Eagles, adding 14 points and 10 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season.

"There was a lot going on today," NCCU coach Joli Robinson said. "It was historic to play in the pink uniforms, and we took a picture before the game. That might have been a distraction, but I wanted them to know how important this was.

"Then of course it was the last game for Jen and C.D. [Casey Daniel], and that was very important to us. I think maybe they were a little nervous in the first half, but we played much better in the second. Jen has meant a lot to this program, and it was great to see her finish with that kind of game. And Toya has really picked up her game. She did a good job of that after Jori [Nwachukwu] went out [for the season with a leg injury on Jan. 3 at Duke]."

Love Brown led the way with 12 points for Livingstone under first-year coach Leah Frierson.

NCCU shot 42.3 percent from the floor to Livingstone's 42.9, but dominated the boards 34-25 and committed only 21 turnovers to 27 for the Blue Bears.

"I definitely didn't want to lose my last college game," said Hukill who like many of her teammates had added a pink hair ribbon, shoelaces and other accoutrements for the occasion. "We didn't start out playing very well, but we picked up our intensity in the second half.

"I really liked playing in the pink uniforms. I thought we looked good in them."

The Blue Bears led 27-22 at halftime behind five points from Brown.

Livingstone shot 55.0 percent in the first half to 36.0 for the Eagles.

NCCU had 16 first-half rebounds to 11 for Livingstone, and had committed 10 turnovers to 12 for the Blue Bears.

NCCU led just once in the first half when Hukill hit a 3-pointer with 19:23 left in the period.

The score was tied three times before Brown's layup at 14:39 put Livingstone ahead 13-11. The visitors biggest lead of the game was eight, on Cassaundra Rhodes' jumper with 5:07 showing that made it 25-17.

The Eagles began the second half as if they had been shot out of a cannon. NCCU scored the first 12 points of the period, eight of them from Hukill, to go up 34-27 on her jumper at 17:01.

Livingstone made a run that cut the margin to 40-39 on a Sherrell Lawson follow at 11:43. But the Eagles responded with a 9-0 run, ending in Shakeyma Adams' layup from Tonia Roundtree with 4:16 to go for NCCU's biggest lead of the game to that point.

The Eagles' biggest lead was 14, twice in the final two minutes.

"We knew this game was going to be big," Bennett said. "We wanted to win it for Jen and C.D., and we wanted to finish out first season in Division I with a win.

"We've learned a lot this season, playing against great teams like Carolina and Duke. We saw how much work we're going to have to do. I know we're going to work harder in the off-season, and next season is going to be different."