Jayden GoldsonThe Lady Eagles couldn’t put the pieces together against the Howard Bison in a 51-74 home loss Sunday evening.
After holding Howard to a 10-10 tie at the end of the first quarter, the Eagles hit a cold streak.
The team combined for 5 points in the second quarter, with sophomore guard Kyla Bryant (14 pts, 8 rebs, 2 asts) hitting the Eagles’ lone shot with 26 seconds left in the half.
The Eagles finished the contest shooting 14-57 (24.6%), marking one of the lowest shooting performances this season.
“I got a little frustrated with the reps,” senior forward Morgan Callahan said. “But we were also down so much, so that’s where a lot of the emotion came from.”
“And, the team, like you [head coach Terrence Baxter] said, we couldn’t buy a bucket, so that’s also frustrating.”
NCCU’s starting five shot a combined 10-37 from the field. This included sophomore guard Aysia Hinton, who managed to go 1-11 from 3-point range.
“I think it was 0 for 5 from 3, and 1 for 12 in the second quarter,” coach Baxter said. “And to be honest, we had great, great looks, and we just didn’t knock them down today.”
The Eagles were out rebounded 19-28 on the offensive glass, and struggled to protect the ball, committing 32 turnovers to Howard’s 16.
Baxter attributed the drop off to a lack of aggression.
“We can’t lay down,” he said. “And we have been a young team with only a couple of vets, that’s happening sometimes. And by the time we wake up, we’re down 15, and that’s tough to deal with.”
Despite the slump, Eagles’ Callahan tallied 6 points and 15 rebounds in 34 minutes played. Callahan has now amassed a total of 1,017 points during her 5-year career for the Eagles.
This matchup also marked Callahan’s 100th game in an Eagles uniform. In 2,818 minutes played, she averaged 10.2 points per game, accumulated 666 career rebounds, 114 steals and 84 blocks.
As the Lady Eagles eye the annual MEAC Tournament on March 12 – 15 in Norfolk, Virginia, Callahan looks to complete her final season as an Eagle with a strong tournament run.
