DeKeisha Mathis led Morgan State with 12 points on four three-pointers in the loss to Saint Bonaventure.
Morgan State 55, Saint Bonaventure 79
SAINT BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (Nov. 20, 2011)-CeCe Dixon came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points, while Doris Ortega added 13 to lead host Saint Bonaventure to a 79-55 non-conference victory over Morgan State on Sunday afternoon at the Reilly Center.
Chelsea Bowker also came off the bench to score 10 points as Saint Bonaventure improved to 4-0 on the season with its home opening win over the Lady Bears and evened the all-time series at 1-1.
Morgan State (1-2) which last year defeated the Bonnies in Baltimore, was led by DeKeisha Mathis, who scored a team-high 12 points and for the second straight game knocked down four three-pointers. Whitney Southerland came off the bench and added nine points for the Lady Bears.
Mathis scored Morgan's first points of the game on a three-pointer to put the guests up 3-2 with 17:59 to play. Jamesia (Jamie) Smith (seven points), who entered the contest as Morgan's leading scorer, averaging 14.5 points, later connected on a trey – her only field goal in the game – to give the Lady Bears their last lead of the game at 7-6.
The hosts used a 13-5 run in the span of six minutes to take a 25-15 lead after four consecutive free throws by Ortega with 6:40 to play in the half. The Bonnies would extend their lead to as much as 12 points (35-23) in the first half with Bowker adding two free throws at the 1:50 mark.
Morgan State would close out the half on a mini 5-0 run, triggered by a Tireion Turner three-pointer and capped off by a jumper from Brianna Coardes (seven points) to trim the deficit to 35-28 at the break.
The guests would pull within 36-32 after back-to-back layups by Parker with 18:26 to play, but would get no closer. A 17-5 run by the Bonnies in a little over seven minutes increased the hosts lead to 53-37 with 11:50 remaining.
Saint Bonaventure later put together a 12-3 spurt in the midst of a 23-11 run to extend its cushion to 79-53 (26 points), its largest of the afternoon to close out the game, before two free throws by Coardes for the final score.
The Lady Bears, who committed 27 turnovers in the win against George Washington on Wednesday, only had nine today. But it was their field goal shooting and inability to rebound which did them in. Morgan State shot 14-of-49 from the floor for 28 percent.
Saint Bonaventure shot 41 percent (23-of-56) from the floor and 25 percent (4-for-16) from three-point range, while Morgan State connected on 8-of-18 (44 percent) from beyond the arc.
Morgan State was out rebounded mercifully by the Bonnies, 54-24 for the game with 33 of Saint Bonaventure's rebounds coming on the defensive end, preventing second chance opportunities for the Lady Bears.
Morgan State returns to action on Tuesday with a non-conference game at Bucknell. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Lewisburg, Pa. This will be the first meeting between the two teams.
