Game 26 (MEAC Contest)
Morgan State "Lady Bears" (9-16, 6-6 MEAC)
at North Carolina Central "Lady Eagles" (6-18, 4-8 MEAC)
Date: February 21, 2015 / 5:30 p.m.
Place: Durham, N.C. (McDougald-McLendon Gym)
Series: Morgan State leads, 7-3
Live Video: nccueaglepride.com
Live Stats: nccueaglepride.com
Audio: HSRN.com
 
Morgan State Notes | N.C. Central Notes
 
BALTIMORE, Md. (Feb. 19, 2015)-The Lady Bears will look to end a three-game losing skid when it heads down to the 'Old North State' this weekend when they visit both North Carolina Central and North Carolina A&T in two huge Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) games for seeding purposes for the MEAC Tournament. Morgan State will visit the Lady Eagles of NCCU on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. at McDougald-McLendon Gym in Durham, N.C., before traveling to Greensboro, N.C. to face the Lady Aggies of NC A&T on Monday, Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at the Corbett Sports Center.  
  
BEAR CLAWS: The Lady Bears (9-16, 6-6 MEAC) suffered their third consecutive loss after a 78-44 loss to Hampton on Monday. Tykyrah Williams scored a team-high 12 points, including a 10-for-11 shooting performance from the free throw line and grabbed six rebounds. Braennan Farrar totaled nine points, while Simone Sampson grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to go with six points and a game-high two blocks. Morgan is led by Tracey Carrington, who is averaging 18.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per outing. Farrar is scoring 12.6 points and leads the team in both assists (64) and steals (51), while Spears is adding 4.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Dinah Jones leads Morgan with 5.4 rebounds, while Simone Sampson has a team-leading 14 blocks. Danielle Robinson (5.3 ppg) is second on the team in blocks with 11. Morgan is scoring 56.6 points per game, while allowing 61.5 points.
 
EAGLE SCRATCHES: North Carolina Central (6-18, 4-8 MEAC) is coming off a 65-58 road loss at Florida A&M on Monday. Nikki Works scored a team-high 15 points, tied a team-high five rebounds and added a game-high two blocks. Khyra Conerly scored 12 points and had three assists, while Tia Clement came off the bench to score 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 3-for-4 from three-point range. The Lady Eagles have been led by Racquel Davis, who is averaging 14.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and has 32 blocked shots, all team-highs. Morgan Jones is adding 9.2 points, while Conerly is chipping in with 9.1 points and leads the team in assists (55) and steals (48).  
 
MSU VS. NCCU SERIES NOTES: Morgan State leads the series, 7-3. Last season NCCU ended a two-game losing skid to Morgan State, following a 50-48 victory in Durham, N.C. This will be the third consecutive year the game will be played at McDougald-McLendon Gym. The Lady Bears are 2-2 against the Lady Eagles in Durham.
 
DOG BISCUTS: North Carolina A&T (15-10, 8-4 MEAC) is in the midst of a six-game winning streak, following a 52-46 win at Bethune-Cookman (2/16). Dana Brown scored a team-high 10 points, had two assists and two steals, while Debbie Smith added nine points, eight rebounds and two steals. Michelle Fitzgerald came off the bench to add nine points and Eboni Ross grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to go with seven points, two steals and a game-high three blocks. Smith leads N.C. A&T with 10.1 points per game. April McRae is scoring 9.7 points, while Ross is contributing 8.4 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds and has a team-best 39 blocks. Christina Carter (7.2 ppg) leads the squad in assists (76) and steals (53). The Lady Aggies are scoring 59.3 points per game, while giving up 54.3 points to opponents. The two teams participated in the Chattanooga Christmas Tournament (Dec. 20-21), but did not face each other. The Lady Bears went winless against host Chattanooga and Tennessee Tech, while the Lady Aggies finished with a 1-1 mark with their lone win coming against Tennessee Tech.
 
MSU VS. NC A&T NOTES: The Lady Aggies lead the all-time series, 35-21 and have won three straight. This will be the third straight meeting between the two teams in Greensboro, N.C. N.C. A&T won last season's meeting, 78-48.  Morgan State has dropped seven of its last eight games at the Corbett Sports Center dating back to Feb. 7, 2005.
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will close out its 2014-15 home slate when it hosts rival Coppin State for 'Senior Day' on Saturday, Feb. 28. Tip-off is 2 p.m. at Hill Field House and will be the last home contest for senior Tracey Carrington, who will be honored prior to the game.  
  
FREE FALLING: Two weeks ago the Lady Bears were sitting in a two-way tie for third-place in the MEAC with Savannah State with identical 5-3 records heading into the two team's match-up (2/7). Morgan State has since dropped four of its last five games, including the Savannah State game, while going just 1-3 in MEAC competition during that stretch to drop to seventh-place in the league standing with a 6-6 mark.  
 
TRACKING CARRINGTON: Tracey Carrington entered the season with 1,137 career points, which ranked ninth all-time at Morgan State. Carrington, scored six points against Hampton (2/16) to give her 1,470 points for her career and move her past Shakira Smith (1,464 from 1997-01) for third-place. The Baltimore native, needs 105 points to move into second all-time in scoring.
 
LOW POINT: Tracey Carrington was held to a season-low six points in the loss to Hampton (2/16). It ended a string of 58 consecutive games of scoring in double figures and was her lowest scoring total, since being held to four points against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (3/2/13). Carrington, who is averaging a team-best 19.0 points, shot 2-for-11, including 0-for-3 from beyond the three-point arc against Hampton.
 
A ROUGH GO: Morgan State concluded its 2014-15 non-conference slate with a 52-49 loss at NJIT (2/11). The loss dropped the Lady Bears to 3-10 in non-conference action. The loss was the second straight non-conference defeat for Morgan State, which dropped eight of their last nine non-conference games.
 
BEASLEY BECOMES PROGRAM'S WINNINGEST COACH: Morgan State head coach Donald Beasley, who is in his 10th year at the helm of the Lady Bears, became the program's all-time coaching leader, following the win over Florida A&M (1/17). Beasley (126-168), who earned his sixth win of the season against FAMU, passed LaRue Fields (122-60 from 1979-85) as the school's all-time coaching leader for victories. 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).
 
CARRINGTON MOVING UP: Tracey Carrington, who ranks 12th all-time at Morgan State in steals with 119, grabbed two rebounds against Hampton (2/16) to give her 549 for her career and move into 11th all-time on the Lady Bear charts.
 
PROVIDING ASSISTANCE: Braennan Farrar finished with one assist against Hampton (2/16), giving her a team-leading 64 assists in 25 games. Farrar recorded a season-high nine assists in the win over Wesley (11/18). As a team the Lady Bears recorded 19 assists in that game.
 
FARRAR SETS SEASON-HIGH IN SCORING: Braennan Farrar scored a career-high 22 points in a 62-53 victory over crosstown rival Coppin State (2/2). The 22 points surpassed her previous high of 21 points in a heartbreaking 50-48 home loss against Stony Brook (12/13).
 
THE FRESHMEN WILL LEAD THEM: During the absence of leading scorer and senior captain Tracey Carrington (18.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg) for seven-and-a-half games, freshmen Braennan Farrar, Tykyrah Williams, Lexus Spears and Zuri White all filled the void. Farrar currently ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.6 points and leads the team in steals (51) and assists (64). Spears (4.9 ppg) ranks fourth in scoring and is second in rebounding at 5.4 per game. Williams is averaging 4.4 points, while White had led the Lady Bears with 7.1 rebounds per contest, before sitting out the last eight games.
 
LADY BEARS TAKE IN NBA GAME: Before heading over to Athens, Ga., for its season-opener against the University of Georgia, the Morgan State women's basketball team spent the first night of their five-day road trip in Atlanta and attended the Atlanta Hawks-Utah Jazz game on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at Phillips Arena. The home team Hawks would hold on for a 100-97 victory.
 
MORGAN IN SEASON OPENERS: The Lady Bears, who opened up the 2014-15 campaign on the road for the first time in three years, fell to 10-28 all-time in season openers dating back to 1977, following its 68-32 setback at Georgia (11/14). 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 at home and suffered a 94-86 overtime loss to Division II Lincoln-Pa.
 
MORGAN PICKED LAST IN MEAC: Morgan State was picked to finish 13th 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 sixth, but finished the season at 5-25 overall, 3-13 in the MEAC and finished 12th.
 
CARRINGTON NAMED TO PRESEASON MEAC FIRST TEAM: Senior guard Tracey Carrington was named to the Preseason All-MEAC first team. A native of Baltimore, Md., Carrington averaged 20.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game to lead the Lady Bears in both categories. She also led the team in assists (53) and ranked second on the team in steals with 40.
 
CARRINGTON RECEIVES MADNESS PRESEASON HONORS: Tracey Carrington was named College Sports Madness 2014-15 Preseason MEAC Player of the Year, as announced by the staff of College Sports Madness. Carrington was an All-MEAC first team selection by Madness College Sports at the conclusion of last season.
 
IT'S HAPPENED BEFORE: Last season's five wins marked the second time in Donald Beasley's tenure at Morgan State that the squad won just five games. The last time that happened was in Beasley's his first season at the helm during the 2005-06 campaign, when the Lady Bears went 5-24. The very next season the team recorded 18 wins, which at the time set the school mark for wins on the Division I level and also reached the MEAC Championship game, just the third appearance in the title game in school history.