Tracey Carrington came off the bench and finished with eight points, six rebounds, three steals and two steals against Cincinnati.
CINCINNATI, Ohio (Dec. 1, 2011)-As the final horn sounded in the first-ever meeting between Morgan State and Cincinnati, the host Bearcats very well should have been feeling the effects of their first loss of the season, while the Lady Bears should have been celebrating their third consecutive win over a Big East foe. Instead behind some late Morgan State miscues and timely shooting by Cincinnati, the Bearcats were able to walk away with a 64-60 non-conference victory on Thursday night at Fifth Third Arena.
Kayla Cook led the attack for the host Bearcats, finishing with a game-high 20 points, including 15 points in the second half on five three-pointers. Cook would finish 7-for-11 from the floor and 6-for-10 from three-point range. Tiffany Turner added 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to record a double-double for Cincinnati which improved to 6-0 on the season.
The Lady Bears (2-3) were led by DeKeisha Mathis, who finished with team-high 19 points. Mathis, who entered the contest knocking down four three-pointers in each of her last three games, shot 7-for-12 from the floor and was held to 3-of-6 from three-point range. Reserves Tracey Carrington and Whitney Southerland each added eight points for Morgan State which fell to 3-12 all-time against the Big East Conference and had its two-game winning streak against the conference snapped.
Morgan State, which trailed by as much as 16 points (25-9) in the first half and 14 points (37-23) at the 18:12 mark of the second half, used a 23-9 run to even the score at 46 with 7:51 to play. Mathis triggered the run with seven straight points and Amarah Williams capped it off by hitting two free throws to tie up the game.
But Cook would be left alone along the right wing and drained a three-pointer to put the hosts up by three. A Morgan State turnover on the ensuing possession then led to another Cincinnati three-pointer, this time from Bjonee Reaves, extending the Bearcats' lead to 52-46.
Cincinnati took a four-point lead (57-53) after Chanel Chisholm converted the first of two free throws with 3:36 remaining, but the visiting Lady Bears would turn the ball over on three straight possessions with the last resulting in a yet another three-pointer by Cook, her sixth and final one on the evening to put the hosts up 60-53.
Southerland countered with a trey of her own to make it a 60-56 game, but the Lady Bears would get no closer than four points. The Bearcats went up 64-56, before back-to-back layups by Carrington provided the games' final score at 64-60.
Morgan State held a 7-5 lead at the first media timeout, but the host Bearcats used a 20-2 run during the course of nearly 10 minutes to take a 25-9 lead with 7:19 to play in the opening half.
Morgan State responded with a mini 5-0 run, triggered by a trey by Mathis to bring the guests within 25-14. After four quick points by Cincinnati the Lady Bears then put together a 7-2 run with Mathis scoring all seven of the points, as Morgan State trailed 31-21 at the intermission.
Cincinnati finished the game shooting 33.8 percent (22-of-65) from the floor, while Morgan State shot 23-for-55 (41.8 percent). The Lady Bears connected on 6-of-14 from three-point range, while the Bearcats knocked down 8-of-19 (42 percent) treys.The hosts hit 12-of-21 from the charity stripe, while Morgan State was 8-for-10. Cincinnati also out rebounded the Lady Bears 44-36.
The Lady Bears held a 17-6 advantage in bench points over Cincinnati and outscored the Bearcats 26-22 in the paint and 19-16 in points off of turnovers. Cincinnati held an 11-5 cushion in second chance points and Morgan State held an 8-7 advantage in fast break points.
Morgan State will take some time off for the exam period before returning to action on December 14, when it visits Northwestern in a non-conference game at 12 p.m.
