With two straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship titles, the last thing the Coppin State women?s basketball team needed was higher expectations.
Rashida Suber was named the MEAC preseason player of the year, but she hasn?t rested on her laurels. The senior guard has guided the team to a 15-6 record in the middle of a 33-game regular-season conference win streak heading into Saturday?s home game against Norfolk State (4-17).
“Rashida puts more time in than anyone on the team,” Eagles coach Derek Brown said.
Suber is averaging 17.8 points per game, and on Saturday she scored her 1,000th point in an 18-point performance during the Eagles? 58-53 win over Delaware State.
“She is a dynamic offensive player,” Brown said. “She can do so many things with the basketball as far as dribbling is concerned. She shoots the ball extremely well from the stand-still or off the dribble.”
Suber is shooting a team-high 34 percent from three-point range, and her presence on offense is undeniably crucial to keeping the team?s streak alive. So, too, is her focus.
“The most important game is the game ahead of us,” Suber said. “The game we?re playing right then and there.”
Brown said that Suber “takes things to heart” and that she is confident in her offensive game. But Suber prides herself on defense.
“If we can limit the unnecessary points, that?s our mindset,” Suber said. “Control the tempo and play defense.”
Suber earned first-team all-conference honors last season, proving her doubters wrong after being named second-team in the preseason.
But this season, her final year on campus, Suber has her eyes set on a larger team goal. After bowing out in the first round of the NCAA tournament the past two years, she wants to lead her team to new heights.
“We?ve been there before,” Suber said. “We know what it?s like.”
Brown said the team?s goal is to try and win one or two tournament games. And much of that burden rests on his senior star?s shoulders.
“She?s just hard to stop,” Brown said. “I would hate to play against her every night.”
THE SUBER FILE
» Age: 22
» Height: 5-foot-8
» Hometown: Reading, Pa.
» Did you know? Suber averaged 21.5 points per game as a senior at Reading High ? Scored 2,111 points during her high school career ? Named Pennsylvania Class AAAA second team by the Associated Press.
