Theresa Davis scored a career-high 12 points and had four rebounds and two steals at NC A&T.
Boxscore
GREENSBORO, N.C. (Jan. 12, 2008)-Despite entering this afternoon’s contest at North Carolina A&T with a 3-1 mark when coming off a layoff of a week or more, the Lady Bears had slow starts and lack luster performances, but were able to pull off victories.
For Morgan State, which hadn’t played since its win at Coppin State last Saturday, today was no different, as the Lady Bears came out uninspired, but this time they were not able to overcome it.
Amber Bland scored a game-high 21 points and Brittany Taylor-James came off the bench to score 19 points to lead the host Lady Aggies to a 97-78 victory over Morgan State in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at the Corbett Sports Center.
The Lady Bears (7-6, 1-1 MEAC), who have now dropped three straight to North Carolina A&T, were led by Corin Adams’ 20 points, while Brittany Dodson finished with 16 points. Theresa Davis added a career-high 12 points and Britney Griffin pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Neither team came out particularly strong to start the game. North Carolina A&T missed its first nine shots and had two turnovers in its first 11 possessions, while the guests missed their first three shots, but had nine turnovers in their first 12 possessions.
N.C. A&T (8-5, 2-0 MEAC) broke a scoreless game on a free throw by Jalessa Sams with 17:07 left. The Lady Aggies’ first basket came at the 16:28 mark by Bland and James added a layup to give the hosts a 6-0 advantage.
Morgan State finally got on the board on a steal and layup by Tamara Rogers. Back-to-back layups by Adams and Dodson evened the score at eight all, but A&T countered with an 18-1 run to take a 24-9 lead. The Lady Aggies would hold a 38-21 advantage at the intermission.
Morgan State, which trailed by as much as 32 points (58-26) six minutes into the second half, slowly began to chip into the deficit with its defense and took advantage of the Lady Aggies’ lack luster effort after building a big lead.
Reed got a steal leading to a layup by Adams and Adams returned the favor to Reed on the next possession for two quick scores. Adams later capped off the 15-0 run with two free throws to make it a 58-41 game with 12:45 remaining in the contest.
The Lady Bears would eventually cut the lead down to 13 points (79-66) on a three-pointer by Dodson, with 6:03 left, but that would be as close as they would get. North Carolina A&T responded with an 11-2 run to extend its cushion to 22 points and all but put the game out of reach.
The 57-point second half was the most points scored in a half by a Donald Beasley coached team, while at Morgan State, surpassing the 50-point output earlier this season against North Carolina Central (11/21). The 57 points also ranks second all-time in school history.
Morgan State will travel to Norfolk, Va., to take on Norfolk State in a MEAC contest on Monday, Jan. 14, at Echols Hall. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m.
