Morgan State Notes | Hampton Notes | GAMEDAY

BALTIMORE, Md. (Dec. 7, 2015)-The Morgan State Lady Bears will entertain the Hampton Lady Pirates this evening in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game. Tip-off is 5:30 p.m. at Hill Field House. It will be the Lady Bears' second and final MEAC contest of the 2015 season, while Hampton will be playing its first MEAC game of the season.
 
BEAR CLAWS: The Lady Bears (2-6) ended their six-game losing skid on Saturday with a 67-58 victory over visiting Norfolk State in the MEAC opener for both teams. Braennan Farrar scored 20-of-her game– and career-high 33 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lady Bears. Lexus Spears would finish with a double-double with 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. MSU, which blew a 12-point halftime lead (35-23), watched the Spartans put together a 19-2 spurt to start the third quarter and outscore MSU 25-6 in the period and take a 48-41 advantage heading into the fourth. The Lady Bears evened the score at 48 all and Farrar later went on an 11-3 scoring run by herself to give MSU the lead for good at 61-55 with 1:03 to play. MSU has been led by Farrar, who is averaging 13.5 points and 3.4 assists per game, while Tykyrah Williams is contributing 8.9 points. Spears and Zuri White are averaging a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game.   
  
PIRATES LOG: Hampton (0-7) enters the contest coming off a 57-36 loss at home to Drexel on Saturday. Malia Tate-DeFreitas scored a team-high 12 points, while Kaylah Lupoe added eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds, 11 of which were defensive. The Lady Pirates have been led by Tate-DeFreitas, who is averaging 17.9 points and ranks second on the team in rebounding with 5.9 rebounds. Lupoe is averaging 11.9 points and a team-leading 7.0  rebounds. Lupoe also has 11 blocked shots and 10 steals, both team highs.
 
MSU VS. HAMPTON SERIES NOTES: Hampton leads the all-time series, 28-11 and has won 10 straight games over Morgan State. The Lady Bears' last win over Hampton was on Feb. 23, 2009, a 90-87 overtime win in Hampton, Va.
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will return to non-conference play when it travels to Blacksburg, Va. to take on the Hokies of Virginia Tech on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
 
MORGAN STATE IN MEAC OPENERS: The Lady Bears, who opened up the 2015-16 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) slate at home on Saturday 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 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.
 
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 four-year letterwinner on the Morgan State volleyball team. Jones, who a year ago averaged 5.2 points, was second in rebounding (5.2) and third in steals (33), also added 20 assists and five blocks. She made her season debut this season at Robert Morris (12/2), finishing with four points and four rebounds. This season on the volleyball court, she helped the Lady Bears to a 13-15 mark, 9-3 in the MEAC Northern Division, which was good for second-place. The Lady Bears would reach the semifinals of the conference tournament for the first time since the 2007 season, before falling to Bethune-Cookman in three sets on Nov. 21.