Morgan State University Athletics

Boxscore

RICHMOND, Va. (Dec. 15, 2008)-For the eighth time in nine games, Morgan State was smaller than its opponent. But for the first time all season, Morgan State came out scared of its opposition and played that way throughout the evening. As a result, the Lady Bears' five-game winning streak came to an end, as host Virginia Commonwealth dealt Morgan a 71-43 non-conference loss on Monday night at the Seigel Center.

With the loss, Morgan State remained winless against the Rams in four meetings, while dropping to 13-25 all-time against members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

VCU (6-2) was led by Radoslava Bachvarova, who entered the contest averaging 10.7 points per game and ended up scoring a game-high 20 points, including 3-for-5 shooting from three-point range. La'Tavia Rorie and Quanitra Hollingsworth added 13 and 12 points, respectively. Rorie added a game-high four steals, along with a game-high nine rebounds to help the Rams to a 50-29 rebounding advantage over Morgan State.

Morgan State (8-2) was led by Aaries Reed, who came off the bench and finished with 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting and 1-for-1 from three-point range. Erin Hawkins, who began her career at nearby University of Richmond, added eight points and Phylicia Jones chipped in with six points and a team-high four rebounds. Corin Adams, who entered the game with a team-leading 18.4 points and last year earned VCU SportsCenter Holiday Classic honors after averaging 19 points per game, was limited to four points on 2-of-10 shooting. The four points tied for second lowest scoring output of her career.

Unlike Morgan's 22-point season opening win over fellow CAA member William & Mary, the host Rams were quicker, aggressive and simply outplayed Morgan State this night.

Morgan State scored the game's first basket on a layup by Hawkins, before the Rams countered with the next 16 points. The Lady Bears trailed 25-12, before allowing VCU to go on an 11-2 spurt to increase the deficit to 36-14. Morgan State closed out the half with an 11-5 run of its own to pull within 41-25 at the intermission.

The Lady Bears pulled within 46-33, following a steal and layup by Adams with 16:45 left in the contest. However, Morgan State could not get any closer, as turnovers and missed scoring opportunities, coupled with second chance points for VCU, allowed the hosts to use a 14-5 run to take a 60-38 advantage with 4:55 left in the game.

Virginia Commonwealth finished the game shooting 45 percent (28-of-62), while the Lady Bears connected on 18-of-58 attempts for 31 percent. Led by Adams' and Brittany Dodson's three steals apiece, Morgan State recorded 13 steals to 12 for VCU. The Rams did total 20 assists to seven for Morgan State. The Lady Bears set a school record for free-throw percent in a game, going 5-for-5 from the line for 100 percent. VCU shot 11-of-20 from the charity stripe for 55 percent.

Morgan State will now take some time off for the holiday season and will return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 30 when they play host to Maryland Eastern SHore. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Hill Field House.