Morgan State 75, Norfolk State 68
NORFOLK, Va. (Jan. 28, 2012)-Heading into Saturday's contest against Norfolk State, it had been six years since Morgan State had been swept by the Spartans in a season series.
Norfolk State will have to wait another year, as Morgan State's Omara Parker came off the bench and scored a team-high 17 points to lead the visiting Lady Bears past Norfolk State, 75-68 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at Echols Hall.
Chyress Lockhart scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half, while DeKeisha Mathis and Moneshia Davis added 15 and 13 points, respectively, for the Lady Bears, who avenged their loss to the Spartans just two weeks ago in Baltimore and recorded their season-long third consecutive victory.
The win also ended a two-game losing skid to Norfolk State and was Morgan's eighth win over the Spartans in the last 10 meetings.
Morgan State (6-14, 3-4 MEAC) broke a 28 all halftime score by using a 17-6 run to start the second half. Mathis capped off the run with a three-pointer to put the Lady Bears up 45-34 with 14:27 to play.
The Lady Spartans (8-11, 3-5 MEAC) would fall behind by as much as 13 points (62-49) with just under five minutes to play. But Norfolk State would not go away, responding with a 15-5 run within the next four minutes capped off with a three-point play by Batavia Owens to pull the hosts within 67-64 with 59 seconds remaining.
The Lady Bears would close out the game hitting eight straight free throws to hold on for the 75-68 victory. Morgan State would shoot 23-of-27 (85%) from the charity stripe for the game.
Norfolk State was led by Whitney Long, who finished with a game-high 18 points, while Rachel Gordon added a double-double with 16 points and a game-high 19 rebounds. Rae Corbo contributed 13 points and Owens added 13 points along with 16 rebounds to help the host Spartans hold a 54-36 rebounding advantage over Morgan State.
Both teams scored 32 points in the paint, but Norfolk State held a 20-8 advantage in second chance points. Morgan State scored 22 points off of 20 Norfolk State turnovers, while the Spartans forced 19 turnovers and scored 16 points off of them.
Morgan State will return to action on Monday, Jan. 30th when they visit Hampton in an ESPNU televised game. Tip-off is slated for 4:30 p.m. at the HU Convocation Center. The Lady Pirates suffered their first MEAC loss of the season on Saturday, falling to Coppin State 69-66 in overtime.
