Game 21 (MEAC Contest)
Morgan State "Lady Bears" (8-12, 5-3 MEAC)
vs. Savannah State "Tigers" (10-10, 5-3 MEAC)
Date: February 7, 2015 / 2 p.m.
Place: Baltimore, Md. (Hill Field House)
Series: Tied, 3-3
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Audio: HSRN.com / WEAA 88.9 FM
 
Morgan State Game Notes
 
BALTMORE, Md. (Feb. 2, 2015)- Morgan State, winners of two straight and five of its last six games, will entertain the Lady Tigers of Savannah State in a huge Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game on Saturday, Feb. 7. Tip-off is scheduled for 2.p.m. at Hill Field House. The Lady Tigers, who currently sit in fourth-place in the league standings and the Lady Bears who are in fifth, enter the contest tied with identical 5-3 league records. Savannah State is 0-2 at Hill Field House against the Lady Bears.
  
BEAR CLAWS: The Lady Bears (8-12, 5-3 MEAC) ended their mini two-game road swing with a 62-53 victory over rival Coppin State (2/2). Braennan Farrar scored a game-high 22 points and added a four assists and four steals, both game highs. Tracey Carrington scored 16 points and Lexus Spears contributed 12 points and had a team-high seven rebounds. Morgan State has been led by its senior captain, Carrington, who is scoring a team-leading 18.9 points per game and 5.0 rebounds per outing. Farrar is scoring 13.1 points and leads the team in both assists (56) and steals (45). Spears is adding 5.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, while Danielle Robinson (5.0 ppg) leads the team in blocked shots with 11 and Simone Sampson is adding 10 blocks. The Lady Bears are scoring 57.7 points per game, while allowing 61.4 points.
 
TIGER STRIPES: Savannah State (10-10, 5-3 MEAC) enters the contest coming off a 53-48 home loss to North Carolina A&T in its last game on Jan. 31. The loss ended the Lady Tigers' season-high three-game winning streak. Jasmine Norman came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points and grab five rebounds, while Ezinne Kalu, who shot 3-of-16 from the floor, finished with 10 points and had a game-high five assists in the loss. Tiyonda Davis added eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and pulled down a team-high six boards. The Lady Tigers recorded 12 steals and forced 24 North Carolina A&T turnovers. Savannah State has been led by Kalu, who is averaging a team-high 17.2 points and leads the team in assists (65) and steals (62). Norman is adding 10.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 41 assists and 46 steals, which all rank second on the team. Davis leads the Lady Tigers with 6.8 rebounds per game and has a team-best 41 blocked shots. SSU is scoring 62.9 points per game and allowing 63.2 points per contest.
 
MSU VS. SAVANNAH STATE SERIES NOTES: The series is tied at 3-3, following an 82-71 win by Savannah State in the opening round of the MEAC Tournament last season (5/10/14). Morgan State and Savannah State last met in the regular season on Jan. 14, 2013 in Baltimore, a 68-50 win by the Lady Bears.
 
NEXT UP: The Lady Bears return to Hill Field House with a mini two-game homestand when they host Savannah State on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 2 p.m., before hosting South Carolina State on Monday, Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m.
 
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 (125-167), 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).
 
TRACKING CARRINGTON: Tracey Carrington entered the season with 1,137 career points, which ranked ninth all-time at Morgan State. Carrington, scored a 16 points in the win at Coppin State (2/2) to give her 1,383 points for her career. A native of Baltimore, Carrington currently sits in sixth-place, 17 points shy of passing Kaira Warfield (1,409 from 1993-97) for fifth-place. She also needs 192 more points to move into second all-time in scoring at Morgan.
 
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 scoring high of 21 points in a heartbreaking 50-48 home loss against Stony Brook (12/13).
 
CARRINGTON MOVING UP: Tracey Carrington grabbed six rebounds at Coppin State (2/2) to give her 529 for her career and move past Tresan Duggan (522 rebounds from 1995-98) for 14th all-time at Morgan State. Carrington, who also has 116 steals for her career, is just two steals away from moving past Erin Hawkins (117 steals from 2009-11) for 12th-place.
 
PROVIDING ASSISTANCE: Braennan Farrar added four assists at Coppin State (2/2), giving her a team-leading 56 assists in 20 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.
 
TAKING A BREAK: The Lady Bears, who hadn't played since their home loss to Bethune-Cookman (1/19), ended their season-long 12-day layoff when they returned to the court against Howard (Jan. 31). It was the longest time between games this season for Morgan State, surpassing the previous 11-day break it had from Dec. 21-Jan. 1.
 
GIMME THAT: Freshman Zuri White has been a rebounding machine for the Lady Bears, as she leads Morgan State with 7.1 boards per outing. A native of Durham, N.C., White has reached double figures in four of the last six games, hauling in a total of 64 rebounds for an average of 10.6 per contest. White grabbed a season-best 14 boards against Brown (1/4).
  
WELCOME HOME: Morgan State assistant coach Ed Davis made his third return to Memorial Hall (1/10) and helped the Lady Bears go 3-0 in Dover, Del. against the Hornets. Davis, who served as head coach of the Hornets for 12 seasons, concluded his career at Delaware State's as the program's winningest coach with a 178-182 mark. He guided the Hornets to a MEAC Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth in 2007, a MEAC regular season co-championship (2003-04), five MEAC championship game appearances and the only 20-win seasons (four) in team history.
 
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 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 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.