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Morgan State Notes | UMBC Notes
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BALTIMORE, Md. (Dec. 11, 2015)-The Morgan State Lady Bears will look to put an end to their current two-game losing skid when they play host to rival the University of Maryland Baltimore County this Saturday at 2 p.m. at Hill Field House. It will be the Lady Bears' fourth overall home game and second non-conference contest of the season. 
 
BEAR CLAWS: The Lady Bears (2-8) dropped their second straight game, following a 33-73 non-conference loss at Virginia Tech on Wednesday night. Braennan Farrar scored eight points and Simone Sampson came off the bench to score six and record a game-high two blocks. Zuri White hauled in a game-high 10 rebounds for the Lady Bears, who fell to 2-18 all-time against Atlantic Coast Conference competition. MSU was held to just two points in the first quarter and faced a 33-14 deficit at the intermission. Farrar has paced the Lady Bears this season, averaging 13.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and a team-best 2.9 assists. Tykyrah Williams is averaging 8.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and leads the team in steals with 14, while Lexus Spears is contributing in with 8.1 points and 6.0 rebounds. White leads Morgan State in rebounding with 6.5 boards per outing.
  
DAWG BITES: UMBC (5-3) in the midst of a three-game winning streak, enters the game with Morgan State coming off a 65-52 victory at home over Bucknell (12/8). Capree Carner came off the bench and scored a game-high 17 points, while Pandora Wilson and Laura Castaldo added 14 and 12 points, respectively. Taylor McCarley added totaled nine points, a game-high nine assists, a game-high five steals and finished with a team-high eight rebounds. Wilson leads the Retrievers in both scoring (12.8) and rebounding (7.4) per game. Garner is adding 11.3 points, while McCarley also averages double figures in scoring with 10.1 points per outing and leads Morgan State in assists (5.1) and steals (2.4).  
 
MSU VS. UMBC SERIES NOTES: The Retrievers lead the all-time series, 12-11. Morgan State has won two straight, following a 54-46 victory last season on New Year's night (1/1/15) at the RAC Center. Morgan State is a combined 12-22 all-time against members of the America East Conference.
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will travel to New York to take on Stony Brook in a non-conference game on Monday, Dec. 14 at 6 p.m.
 
MORGAN STATE IN MEAC OPENERS: The Lady Bears, who opened up the 2015-16 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) slate at home against Norfolk State (12/5), improved to 6-5 in MEAC openers under head coach Donald Beasley, following a 67-58 win over the Spartans. The Norfolk State contest marked just the sixth time in 17 season's that the Lady Bears did not open the MEAC season against crosstown rival Coppin State.
 
FARRAR NAMED MEAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Braennan Farrar was named MEAC Player of the Week as announced by the league office on Nov. 7. Farrar scored 20 of her career-high 33 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lady Bears to a win over Norfolk State (12/5).
 
STARTED AT THE BOTTOM: The Lady Bears currently rank last (344th) in the nation in field goal percentage at 29.5 percent (176-of-597). Last season Morgan State finished the 2014-15 campaign also in last place (443rd) in field goal percentage.
 
FARRAR SETS CAREER-HIGH: Braennan Farrar scored a career-high 33 points on 12-of-23 shooting and connected on 8-of-11 from the free throw line in the win over Norfolk State. Farrar also added five rebounds, a game-high five assists and a game-high three steals. Her 33 points surpassed her previous career-high of 30 points she scored last season in the regular season finale at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (3/5/15).
 
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 SCHOOL RECORD: 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, holds a career mark of 130-181 all-time at Morgan State.
 
2016 MEAC TOURNAMENT: The 2016 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 in 2013 after spending the previous four years in Winston-Salem, N.C. from 2009 through 2012.