Boxscore

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Saadia Doyle scored 11 of her 17 points in the second half and Zykia Brown added 10 after intermission to help Howard University pull away to a 59-45 win over Coppin State University (4-9 overall, 1-2 in the MEAC) in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's game at Burr Gymnasium.

A 5-11 red-shirt freshman from Atlanta, GA and an early favorite for MEAC Rookie of the Year, Doyle used her power to consistently muscle the Lady Eagles in the paint area.  Doyle grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds, 7 coming off the offensive glass in the second half.

 "Saadia is a warrior on the boards," said Howard Coach Niki Reid Geckeler.  "Any ball that goes up, she grabs it.  That has been her strength all year and that was a key in this game."

Doyle, who now had nine double doubles on the season, was coming off a sub-par performance in Saturday's loss after she got into early foul trouble.  She says that she was determined to atone for the performance.

"Yesterday during practice, coach defined what our roles were," said Doyle.  "I told that I knew that I had to do a better job on the offensive and defensive glass."

Brown, a 5-8 junior guard from Riverdale, MD, combined her ability to hit mid-range shots and slashing moves to the basket to help Howard to a 15-2 run over a four-minute stretch that broke the game open.

"Part of the game plan was to stop Number 33 (Jeanine Manley)," said Brown, who now needs 22 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau.  "When we came out in the man-to-man the second half, it helped pick up our offense."

"In the second half, we came out with more man-to-man because we did not want to give Number 30 (Spotwood) good looks like she got in the first half," explained Coach Geckeler.

Howard (6-8 overall, 2-1 in the MEAC) won the key statistical categories, scoring 20 points off turnovers, holding a 42-31 advantage in rebounding and getting 17 points from the bench, including five points each from Charae' Baulkman and Cheyenne Curley-Payne.

"Charae' gave us a big lift during that important run," said Coach Geckeler.  "She saw what she had to do and did it."

Brown added a career-high seven assists and two steals to her stat line.  Coppin State was led by Spotwood's team-high 16, 14 coming in the first half, and Jeanine Manley's 12.

NEXT UP:  Coppin State travels to Winston-Salem State to take on the Rams of Winston-Salem State next Saturday at 2 pm while Howard travels to Greensboro, NC to take on the Aggies of North Carolina A&T next Saturday at 2 pm.