Mahala Thomas scored a career- and game-high 25 points in the loss at Norfolk State.
Morgan State 65, Norfolk State 66
NORFOLK, Va. (Feb. 26, 2011)-On a day which Norfolk State honored all of its past championship teams on Alumni Day, and held its ring ceremony for its 2009-10 women's and men's cross country, indoor and outdoor championship teams, the Spartans women's basketball team played like champions as well this afternoon.
Rae Corbo scored a team-high 20 points, including four three-pointers and Rachel Gordon grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to go with her nine points to lead Norfolk State to a 66-65 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) victory over visiting Morgan State on Saturday afternoon at Echols Hall.
The win was just the second conference victory for the last-place Spartans, who improved to 9-16 overall and 2-12 in the MEAC to end an eight-game game losing skid. The win also put an end to Morgan's seven-game winning streak over the Spartans.
Morgan State (15-12, 9-5 MEAC), which entered the game in second-place in the league standings, was led by Mahala Thomas' career- and game-high 25 points. Thomas came off the bench and shot 10-of-15, from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point range in the loss. Brittany Dodson added 10 points and Whitney Southerland chipped in with eight.
Morgan State, which struggled all afternoon to really gain control of the game, took a 65-62 lead with 58 seconds remaining on two free throws by Dodson. But the hosts, which overcame a seven-point (45-38) second half deficit, got a layup by Whitney Long to pull within 65-64. The Spartans then forced a Morgan State turnover, the 16th of the game and Sarah Daily (eight points) hit a jumper from the left side of the free throw line to put Norfolk State up for good with 9.7 to play.
Thomas took the inbounds pass and raced down the court and just missed on a potential game winning jumper. The Lady Bears got the ball back under the basket with two seconds left, but could not control the inbound pass, thus suffering their fourth loss in five games.
The Lady Bears held a rare rebounding advantage over an opponent (37-33) with Brittany Noel and Moneshia Davis each pulling down a team-high six boards. Morgan State however was limited to 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) from the free throw line, while the host Spartans connected on 10-of-17 (58.8 percent).
Morgan State will now travel to Greensboro, N.C. to take on the Lady Aggies of North Carolina A&T on Monday evening in a nationally televised contest on ESPNU. Tip-off is slated for 4:30 p.m. at the Corbett Sports Center. The game will be for second-place in the league standings. N.C. A&T (14-12, 9-5) was an 81-58 winner over Coppin State earlier on Saturday.
