Kristina Rosario grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and added five points and a block at Hampton.
Morgan State 37, Hampton 74
HAMPTON, Va. (Jan. 11, 2010)-Last season Morgan State came into the HU Convocation Center for a MEAC nationally televised game on ESPNU and walked away with a 90-87 overtime win, behind Corin Adam's career-high 32 points. This time around, overtime would not be needed. In fact, the game would not even be close.
Hampton's Jerika Jenkins scored a career-high 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 6-of-11 from three-point range and Quanneisha Perry added a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead host Hampton to a 74-37 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference victory Monday evening over Morgan State at the HU Convocation Center. It was the second consecutive season that the two teams played on nationally television as a part of the league's ESPNU package.
The 37-point victory by Hampton is Morgan's worst MEAC loss since a 35 point (89-54) defeat at Howard during the 2004-05 season. The 37 points scored by Morgan State is also its lowest point total since a 55-42 loss against Delaware State in the 2007 MEAC title game.
Adams led Morgan State (5-9, 2-1 MEAC) with nine points on 4-of-16 shooting and had all three of the Lady Bears' steals. Erin Hawkins added seven points and Kristina Rosario led the team with a career-high 14 rebounds, 10 defensive.
The Lady Pirates (5-9, 1-2 MEAC) took control of the game from the start and never looked back. Hampton was in the midst of a 13-0 run over the course of five minutes, before Rosario scored on a put back to end Hampton's run and cut the deficit to 15-4 with 12:35 remaining in the first half.
Morgan State which never led in the game, used a mini 7-2 run to pull within 17-9, but behind three straight three-pointers by Jenkins, the hosts countered with a 27-2 spurt of their own to extend the lead to 44-12. During the run, the Lady Pirates scored 20 straight points to all but seal the game.
Theresa Davis (four points, six rebounds and a block) scored on a layup with 1:05 left to finally end what was a flat out clinic displayed by the Lady Pirates in the first half, as Hampton took a 46-14 lead into the lockerroom.
Behind Brenna Jones' game-high 15 rebounds, Hampton held a 46-43 rebounding advantage over Morgan State. The Lady Pirates also recorded 14 assists to just three by Morgan State.
Hampton, which forced Morgan State to commit a season-high 27 turnovers, turned those into 34 points, while Morgan scored just six points off of 11 Hampton turnovers.
The Lady Pirates, who held their largest lead of the game of 40 points (62-22), following a layup by Bernadette Fortune with 9:46 left in the game, finished the game shooting 28-of-71 (39 percent), including 6-of-14 (43 percent) from three-point range.
Morgan State shot 16-of-60 (26 percent) for the game, including a dismal 6-for-30 in the opening half. The Lady Bears connected on just 3-of-18 (16 percent) from three-point range. Morgan went 2-for-4 from the charity stripe, while Hampton hit on 12 of 16 attempts.
Morgan State, which was off to its best MEAC start since the 1999-2000 season, returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 16, when they travel to Orangeburg, S.C. to take on the Lady Bulldogs of South Carolina State. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m. at the S-HMM Center.
