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BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 17, 2016)-Morgan State takes to the road for the first time this season, when it visits James Madison tonight in Harrisonburg, Va. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the JMU Convocation Center.
 
BEAR CLAWS: The Lady Bears (1-0) opened the 2015-16 season with a 74-36 non-conference victory over visiting Washington Adventist on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore. Morgan State sophomore Breannan Farrar scored a game-high 22 points and added a career-high 12 assists to earn a double-double. Tykyrah Williams added 14 points, while Lexus Spears and Chelsea Mitchell finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Morgan State started off slow against the NAIA Lady Shock. WAU, which was playing its third game of the season, jumped out to an early 15-8 lead after the first quarter. The Lady Bears, behind back-to-back three pointers by Farrar, began to find their rhythm in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Shock 25-6 in the second period to take a 33-21 halftime lead. Morgan State would limit WAU to just four points in the fourth quarter, while taking its largest lead of the game (36 points) on two free throws by Ivy Harrington with 21 seconds remaining.
  
A LOOK AT THE DUKES: James Madison (1-0) is coming off an 88-30 season-opening victory over visiting Longwood on Sunday. Jazmon Gwathmey scored a game-high 22 points to lead four Dukes players in double figures scoring. Savannah Felgemacher came off the bench to score 17 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Angela Mickens and Ashley Perez each added 13 points. Kayla Cooper-Williams (eight points, eight rebounds) and Gwathmey each recorded four blocked shots. JMU began the game with a 16-0 run. The 58-point victory is the fourth-largest is school history.
 
MSU VS. JAMES MADISON SERIES NOTES: This will be fifth meeting between the two teams with James Madison holding a 4-0 all-time series lead. The two teams last played in 2002, with the Dukes earning a 96-45 victory. All five contests have been played in Harrisonburg, Va.
 
LADY BEARS VS. THE CAA: Morgan State is 16-25 all-time against members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Here is how Morgan State has done against the CAA: College of Charleston (0-1), Drexel (1-1), Elon (0-2), Hofstra (2-0), James Madison (0-4), UNC-Wilmington (2-0), Northeastern (0-1), Towson (10-15) and William & Mary (1-1). Morgan has never met Delaware.
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will continue its road trip with a visit to Providence, R.I. to take on Brown on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m., before concluding with a 7 p.m. contest at Syracuse on Monday, Nov. 23 in Syracuse, N.Y.
 
MAKE IT A DOUBLE: Sophomore Braennan Farrar recorded a double-double in the season opening win over Washington Adventist (11/15). The St. Louis, Mo. native tallied a game-high 22 points, while adding a career– and game-high 12 assists against the Lady Shock.
 
PROVIDING ASSISTANCE: Braennan Farrar dished out a career-best 12 assists on Sunday's against Washington Adventist. It surpassed her previous high of nine assists set last season against Wesley (11/18/14).
  
MORGAN IN SEASON OPENERS: The Lady Bears improved to 11-28 all-time in season openers dating back to 1977, following its 74-36 home victory over Washington Adventist (11/15). It was the first season opening win for the Lady Bears in three years, since a 72-61 home victory over the University of Maryland Baltimore County (11/9/12). Morgan State at one point had lost 23 straight season openers, prior to winning three straight from 2006-08. Last season the Lady Bears opened up on the road and suffered a 68-32 loss to Georgia (11/14/14).
 
MORGAN PICKED NINTH IN MEAC: Morgan State was picked to finish ninth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) preseason poll, as voted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Last year, the Lady Bears were picked to finish last (13th), but put together an 11-19 overall mark and finished 8-8 in the MEAC to finish seventh.
  
FARRAR NAMED TO PRESEASON MEAC SECOND TEAM: Sophomore guard Braennan Farrar was named to the Preseason All-MEAC second team. A native of St. Louis, Mo., Farrar was second on the team in scoring (13.9), while leading the Lady Bears in assists with 2.6 per game. She also led the team in steals (67) and three-pointers made (45).
 
BEASLEY ALL-TIME COACHIING LEADER: Morgan State head coach Donald Beasley, who is in his 11th year at the helm of the Lady Bears, became the program's all-time coaching leader last season. Beasley, who surpassed LaRue Fields (122-60 from 1979-85), as the winningest coach (123-66), following a 57-50 win over Florida A&M (1/17/15), currently holds a 129-175 all-time record at Morgan State. Beasley recorded his first career victory in the 10th game of the 2005-06 season, following a 66-54 road win at Bethune-Cookman (1/9/06).
 
DOUBLE DUTY: Senior forward Dinah Jones has been going nonstop since stepping foot on the Morgan State campus in early August of 2012 for her freshman season. The 6-foot-1 native of Annapolis, Md. is also a three-year letterwinner on the Morgan State volleyball team. Jones averaged 5.2 points and was second on the team in rebounding (5.2) and third in steals (33) last season. She also added 20 assists and five blocks. This season on the volleyball court, she helped the Lady Bears to a 13-12 regular season mark, 6-6 in the MEAC Northern Division and the team's first appearance in the upcoming conference championship tournament since 2011. Thus far Jones leads the team in blocks with 60 and is third in kills with 197, both season-bests.
 
SOMEONE NEW: Morgan State has six opponents (Syracuse, Colorado State, Siena, Robert Morris, Virginia Tech, Missouri-Kansas City) on this year's schedule which it has never faced before in the program's history.
 
REMATCH: The Lady Bears will have three rematch games this season against non-conference opponents from the 2014-15 schedule. Those opponents are Washington Adventist, Stony Brook, Brown and Bucknell. Last season Morgan State went 1-3 against those opponents with its lone win coming over Washington Adventist.
 
UNBEATEN STREAK ON THE LINE: Morgan State enters the season with a perfect record against one of this season's opponent in Washington Adventist (1-0). Morgan State will face the Shock in the home and season opener on Nov. 15.
 
TOURNAMENT EXPOSURE: Seven of Morgan's 2015-16 opponents reached postseason play last season. Three opponents reached the 2015 Women's NCAA Tournament (James Madison, Syracuse and defending MEAC Tournament champion, Savannah State). Two competed in the 2015 Women's National Invitational Tournament (Colorado State and MEAC foe Hampton), while two (Siena and Stony Brook) took part in the Women's Basketball Invitational. Siena would reach the title games of the WBI, eventually falling to Louisiana Lafayette by two points.
  
YOUTHFUL LADY BEARS: Morgan State will welcome the addition of three newcomers to the 2015-16 squad with junior transfer, Benedicta Makakala (Tallahassee CC) and freshmen and Maryland natives, Chelsea Mitchell (Atholton HS) and Passion Scott (Riverdale Baptist HS).
 
2016 MEAC TOURNAMENT: The 2015 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men's and women's basketball tournament is scheduled for March 7-12 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. Ticket books can be purchased at all 13 MEAC university ticket offices, the Norfolk Scope Arena, Ticketmaster outlets, the MEAC Administrative Office and online at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available by calling the MEAC at 757-951-2055 or Ticketmaster at (800)-745-3000. The annual MEAC Basketball Tournament moved to Norfolk after spending the previous four years in Winston-Salem, N.C. from 2009 through 2012.