Erin Hawkins tied her career-high with 21 points in Saturday's win at Florida A&M.
Boxscore
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Jan. 17, 2009)-Sophomore Erin Hawkins tied her career-high with a game-high 21 points and freshman Moneshia Davis set a career-high with 18 points to lead visiting Morgan State to a 76-64 victory over Florida A&M on Saturday evening in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at Gaither Gymnasium.
Corin Adams added 17 points and Aaries Reed hauled down a game- and career-high 10 rebounds for the Lady Bears, who in their final visit to Gaither Gymnasium, handed the host Lady Rattlers their first MEAC loss of the season. Next season FAMU will move into a new arena.
Florida A&M (7-7, 3-1 MEAC) was led by Stephanie Foster, who finished with a team-high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three-point range and Deidra Jones added 13 points.
Both teams came out on fire during the course of nearly seven minutes into the opening period, especially behind the three-point arc. Of the game's first 13 combined baskets, 10 were three-pointers.
Davis scored the game's first triple and Foster countered with two three-pointers, before Adams answered with her first trey to even the score at 6-6 with 17:59 remaining. Foster then completed a three-point play and fellow Lady Rattler Antonia Bennett followed with a three-pointer to put the hosts ahead by six.
Morgan State (11-4, 3-1 MEAC) went on a quick 8-0 run, capped off by back-to-back three-pointers by Hawkins and Adams to give the Lady Bears a 14-12 lead, before FAMU countered with a three-pointer by Jones. An Adams layup was followed by Fosters' fourth three of the half and Davis then added a trey with 13:38 left to give Morgan the lead for good at 19-18 and complete a wild three-point shooting display by both teams.
Hawkins extended Morgan's lead to eight with her third three-pointer of the half and after a four-minute scoring drought by both teams, Adams blocked a shot and scored on a layup to put the guests ahead 37-27, their largest lead of the half with 2:13 remaining. However, FAMU would close out the half on an 8-0 run to pull within 37-35 at the intermission.
Davis, who began the second half like she did the game, with a three-pointer, hit her second three of the half to extend the Lady Bears' lead to 53-44 with 13:15 left. FAMU had one last run in it, as it got within 53-52 after a three-pointer by Foster capped off an 8-0 run over three minutes. But that was as close as the Lady Rattlers would get, as Morgan State would later go on a 15-5 run in the final five minutes, including 10 straight free throws for the win.
Morgan State, who continues to attempt plenty of three-pointers, shot 44 percent (12-of-27) from three-point range, with Davis (5-for-8), Hawkins (4-for-9) and Adams (3-for-5) all connecting on three-pointers. The Rattlers connected on 10-of-14 three-pointers for 71 percent. Morgan did shoot 91 percent (20-for-22) from the free throw line and FAMU finished 8-for-12 for 67 percent.
Florida A&M held a 46-38 rebounding advantage over Morgan State with Melissa Daniels grabbing a team-high nine boards. The Lady Bears, who forced 27 FAMU turnovers, finished the game with 15 steals. Adams tallied a game-high six steals, while Hawkins added five thefts.
The Lady Bears conclude their Florida trip on Monday, Jan. 19, when they travel to Daytona Beach, Fla. to take on the Lady Wildcats at Moore Gymnasium at noon.
