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Dec. 30, 2007
The home streak continues as the North Carolina Central University Lady Eagles defeated Mercy College 76-49 to claim their second win of the season inside McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Eagles are now 2-1 at home. NCCU led the entire game. The Lady Eagles led 14-8 with 15:22 left in the first half, but the Mavericks went on a 7-2 run to cut the lead to one point (16-15) with 12:12 left in the half. NCCU (2-14) was led by Jennifer Hukill, who scored a team-best and career-high 26 points, shooting 10-23 from the field, and 6-15 from behind the arch. Fellow starter Jori Nwachukwu picked up her seventh double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The Lady Eagles held a commanding 51-36 advantage following a jumper Latoya Bennett at the 14:53 mark in the second half. Down the stretch the Lady Eagles were able to keep the Mavericks out of reach as they ended up converting 81 percent from the line (9-11). Both teams shot in the mid-30 percent range in the first half, but exploded in the second half as NCCU shot 47 percent and Mercy knocked down 29 percent. The Lady Eagles won the battle of the boards 46-40, and committed fewer turnovers than Mercy that led to easy scoring opportunities for the Lady Eagles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE HERALD-SUN NEWSPAPER (www.HeraldSun.com) NCCU women get their chance at a blowout victory By MIKE POTTER : The Herald-Sun mpotter@heraldsun.com Dec 31, 2007 Durham -- This time the shoe was on the other foot, and it was a very good feeling for N.C. Central. Joli Robinson's club, facing a tough road-dominated schedule in their first season in NCAA Division I, finally got to play an overmatched Division II opponent at home and took advantage of it in a big way.
Jennifer Hukill poured in a career-high 26 points, leading the Eagles to a 76-49 romp over Mercy College on Sunday in the women's bonus game of the BC Powder Classic at McLendon-McDougald Gym. The contest was just the third home game of the season for the Eagles (2-14), who broke a three-game losing streak in improving to 2-1 their home court this season. Mercy, a member of the East Coast Conference from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., fell to 2-9. "It was good to get a win," Coach Robinson said. "We said before the game we wanted to end 2007 on a good note. And the kids just went out and played. "That was great to see Jennifer hit her shots the way she did. We've been talking to her about taking the shot when it's open, and she was on today." Hukill was 6-for-15 from outside the 3-point stripe, as the Mavericks spent much of the day in a 2-3 zone that gave her great looks at the basket. "I was surprised they let me shoot that much, but if they hadn't that would have left a lot open inside," Hukill said. "I was feeling good and my shot was falling, so I kept shooting." Jori Nwachukwu added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles, recording her seventh double-double of the season and 16th of her career. "It feels really good to get a win any time," Nwachukwu said. "I don't care if you beat the No. 1 team in the country or the last-place team it feels great, especially at home. "Jen is our shooter, and she had a great game today. If she shoots like that, we can beat a lot of teams." Ashley Finnegan led Mercy, which dressed only eight players, with 26 points and 15 rebounds. The Eagles shot 41.4 percent for the game to 34.4 for the Mavericks, canning nine of 25 3-point attempts. NCCU won the rebound battle 46-40 and committed a season-low 11 turnovers to 18 for Mercy. NCCU also had a season-high 24 assists, seven of them from LaVonna Hailey and six from Tonia Roundtree. The Eagles led 37-29 at the half behind 10 points from Hukill. Finnegan had 16 points at the half for Mercy. NCCU shot 36.1 percent from the floor over the first 20 minutes to 39.4 for Mercy, but had five 3-pointers in the period to none for the visitors. The Eagles were winning the rebound battle 27-19 at the half, and had committed five turnovers to six for the Mavericks. Hukill's 3-pointer with 19:44 left in the half gave the Eagles the early lead, and they led the rest of the way. But it took them a while to break away, finally getting a 13-4 run for a 37-25 lead on an Angelica Boles jumper 2:41 before the break. The Eagles' biggest lead was 29 points on two occasions late in the contest. NOTES -- The Eagles' next game will be on Thursday at 7 p.m., when they visit No. 13 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. ... NCCU then visits High Point on Saturday and Duquesne on Jan. 7 before returning home Jan. 9 against Norfolk State. |
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