BALTIMORE, Md. (Jan. 12, 2015)-Tracey Carrington scored a game-high 24 points and Zuri White totaled a game-high 12 rebounds to lead Morgan State to a 72-62 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) victory over the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) on Monday evening at Hill Field House.
Braenna Farrar and Danielle Robinson each added 11 points for the Lady Bears, who improved to 33-40 all-time against UMES, while ending a two-game losing skid at home.
The win was the Lady Bears' first two-game winning streak this season, and first since Feb. 19 and 24 of last season. The victory also gave Morgan State head coach Donald Beasley his 122nd coaching victory at Morgan State, thus tying him with LaRue Fields as the program's all-time coaching leader.
UMES (5-8, 2-1 MEAC) which had not played a game since Dec. 30, entered the contest tied with defending MEAC champion Hampton for first-place with an unbeaten 2-0 league record. The Lady Hawks were led by Jessica Long, who finished with a team-high 20 points and added 11 rebounds to record a double-double. Alexis Udoji also tallied a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds to help the guests out rebound Morgan State, 58-45. TeAmber Burke finished with 15 points.
Morgan State (5-11, 2-2 MEAC) trailed 32-25 with 2:43 remaining in the first half, before using a 7-1 run to close out the half and cut the UMES lead to 33-32 at the break.
The Lady Bears used a 6-0 spurt early in the second half to even the score at 45, following two free throws by Carrington and then went on a 9-0 run to take a 57-49 cushion with 9:56 to play in the game. Morgan State had its largest lead of the evening (66-55) after a free throw by White with 5:19 to go, but the guests would not go away.
The Lady Hawks countered with a 7-1 spurt over the next four minutes to pull within 67-62, following a three-point play from Burke with 1:13 left in the game. However, that would be as close as the guests would come, as Morgan State scored the game's final five points for the 10-point victory.
The Lady Hawks shot 28 percent (22-of-77) for the game, including 1-of-16 (6.3) from three-point range. Morgan State shot 20-of-58 (34 percent) from the field and hit 7-of-16 from three-point range.
The host Lady Bears forced 18 UMES turnovers, 10 of which were steals, led by Carrington's game-high three steals. Morgan State scored 21 points off of UMES turnovers. Both teams had 19 second chance points and both benches tallied 21 points. UMES held an 8-2 advantage in fast break points and outscored the hosts 28-14 in the paint.
Morgan State will host the Lady Rattlers of Florida A&M in a MEAC contest on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 2 p.m. at Hill Field House. FAMU leads the all-time series, 33-10 over Morgan State. The Lady Rattlers (4-11, 1-2 MEAC) were dealt an 80-52 home loss on Monday to Hampton.
