Morgan State University Athletics

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. (Feb. 1, 2014)-Morgan State's Tracey Carrington recorded her first double-double of the season, finishing with a team-high 25 points and a team- and season-best 11 rebounds, but it wasn't enough, as Delaware State defeated Morgan State 86-66 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game at Hill Field House on Saturday afternoon.

Carrington, who shot 9-of-20 from the floor, also tallied three assists, two steals and a block. Danielle Robinson scored a season-high 14 points and had a team-high four assists. Dinah Jones added eight points and eight rebounds, while La'Quacious Adams finished with eight points and five rebounds for the Lady Bears, who have now dropped their fifth straight contest at home. Simone Sampson totaled a game-high two blocked shots to increase her team-leading total to 15.

Delaware State (6-13, 1-6 MEAC), which was playing without its leader, Tierra Hawkins (20.7 points, 10.2 rebounds per game), who continues to sit with a shoulder injury, turned to freshman Raven Bankston. Bankston, who entered the game averaging 18.1 points, scored a career- and game-high 35 points on 13-of-23 shooting to lead the visiting Lady Hornets to a their first MEAC victory of the season.

Deanna Harmon scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Mi'Queara Lewis finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. Tylinn Carter came off the bench and added 13 points, had a game-high three steals and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds to help the Lady Hornets to a 47-37 rebounding advantage over Morgan State.

"We got outhustled," said Morgan State head coach Donald Beasley on the loss. "We had a good week of practice; both our teams hadn't won a game, they just wanted it more than we did. We came out with a different intensity and it just didn't work out.

"They attacked us hard, we didn't defend and you have to give them credit, they wanted it more than we did. I have to do a better job getting my post ready. Our post didn't get one rebound the first half, so there isn't much I can do about that, other than working on it and keep working."

Morgan State (2-18, 0-7 MEAC) evened the game at 11-11 with 15:47 to play after a basket by Carrington, but the Lady Hornets countered with a 19-2 run which spanned just short of six minutes to extend their cushion to 30-13 with 10:11 to play in the opening half.

Delaware State began the run scoring 13 straight points over a four minute-plus span to take a 24-11 lead with 11:35 to play. Carrington later drained two free throws to end the run at the 11:16 mark, but the Lady Bears' drought without a field goal was still alive.

The Hornets' lead grew to 30-13 after a basket by Jade Washington (four points, game-high eight assists), before Robinson knocked down a trey from the top of the key with 9:59 remaining in the half to finally end the Lady Bears' scoreless drought without a basket at just under six minutes.

Morgan State used a 10-4 run to get within 41-30 after a put back from Gabrielle Bennett with 1:36 left, but the Hornets closed out the half scoring the final six points to take a 47-30 halftime advantage.

The Lady Bears could not get going in the second half, and behind an 11-5 run, Delaware State took its largest lead of the game at 24 points (72-48) with 7:11 to play, following two free throws by Carter.

Morgan State finished the game shooting 34 percent (25-of-73) from the field, while the Lady Hornets shot 52 percent (32-of-61), thus becoming just the fourth team this season to shoot 50 percent against Morgan State.

"We just need to attack the basket more, take more better shots closer to the basket. But 34% for us is a little bit above average but we just didn't get to the foul line enough and we had enough points we just didn't stop them. We had enough offensive points; we had 66 points but we didn't stop anything so we have to do a better job on defense and rebounding."

The Lady Bears return to action on Monday, Feb. 3, when they play host to the Lady Pirates of Hampton. Due to the men's game which will air live at 7 p.m. on ESPNU, the women's game will tip-off at 4 p.m. at Hill Field House. Hampton, which defeated Morgan State, 99-45 earlier this season in an ESPN3 game in Hampton (1/20), is coming off an 83-75 road victory at Coppin State on Saturday.

Said Beasley of the Lady Pirates, "they're the best team in the conference and one of the better teams in mid major basketball, so we're just going to come out and keep fighting and see what we come up with."