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BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 22, 2016)-The Morgan State Lady Bears will travel to Missouri to this week to compete in three games over the Thanksgiving break. Morgan State will first visit Saint Louis on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m., it will be the second meeting between the two teams. While in the Show Me State, the Lady Bears will travel to Kansas City, Mo., to compete in the Plaza Lights Classic (Nov. 25-26) hosted by the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Morgan State will first take on Eastern Kentucky on Friday, Nov. 25 at 3:30 p.m. CST. It will be the first meeting between the two programs. Morgan State will then close out the tournament with a 3:30 p.m. contest on Saturday against host UMKC.
 
BEAR CLAWS: Morgan State (1-1) earned its first win of the 2016-17 campaign and Ed Davis era, following a 79-28 home opening win over Washington Adventist (11/17). Junior Tykyrah Williams scored a game-high 22 points and added nine rebounds, falling just shy of a double-double. Fellow junior Lexus Spears, who was making her season debut, finished with 15 points, while Braennan Farrar scored 15 and 14 points, respectively. The win was Morgan State's third straight over the Shock in as many meetings. Spears leads the Lady Bears in scoring with 15 points per game, while Williams and Farrar are averaging 14 points per game. Williams is adding a team-best 10 rebounds per contest to average a double-double through two games.
 
THE BILLIKENS: Saint Louis (4-0) enters Wednesday's contest against Morgan State coming off a 68-58 road victory at Bradley on Nov. 20. Jackie Kemph scored a game-high 21 points and had a game-high six assists, while Olivia Jakubicek collected her first career double-double, with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Sadie Stipanovich added 10 points in the win. Kemph, who for the second consecutive week was named Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week by College Sports Madness on Monday, is averaging 19.8 points per game to pace four Billiken players in double figures scoring. Jordyn Frantz is adding 14.8 points, while Stipanovich is scoring 14 points and adding a team-leading 9.3 rebounds per contest. Maddison Gits is contributing 10 points per outing. As a team, Saint Louis is scoring 81.8 points per game, while holding its opponents to 63 points.
 
MSU VS. SAINT LOUIS SERIES NOTES: This will be the second meeting between the two teams with Saint Louis holding a 1-0 series lead. The Billikens claimed the first meeting, 64-51 on Nov. 14, 2010 at Chaifetz Arena.
 
NEXT UP: Following the Plaza Lights Classic in Kansas City (Nov. 25-26) the Lady Bears will visit Marshall on Wednesday, Nov. 30 for a non-conference game at 4 p.m. in Huntington, W.Va.
 
GETTING DEFENSIVE: Morgan has forced 54 opponent turnovers in two games, with 31 of them coming by way of steals. In the win against Washington Adventist, the Lady Bears forced 31 turnovers, 21 of them were steals. Morgan State converted those turnovers into 33 points.
 
DAVIS BACK IN THE WIN COLUMN: It took interim head coach Edward Davis just two games to earn his first victory as the coach of Morgan State, when the Lady Bears defeated Washington Adventist (11/17). The win marked the first for Davis since he recorded a 55-53 victory over South Carolina State in the season finale on March 1, 2012, in his final season as the head coach at Delaware State.
 
SHOW ME STATE HOMECOMING: This week's Missouri trip will mark the homecoming of two Lady Bear junior guards and St. Louis natives, Braennan Farrar (Clyde C. Miller Career Academy) and Tayler Williams (Metro Academic & Classical Academy). It will also mark the return to the Show Me State for two of Morgan State's coaching staff. Associate head coach Wanika Owsley played collegiately for Southeast Missouri State, while assistant coach, Brittany Dodson, who is a native of St. Louis and played at Metro Academic & Classical Academy.
 
BACK ON THE SIDELINE: Morgan State interim head coach Edward Davis, returns to the sideline for the 2016-17 campaign as the head man, after spending the last four seasons as an assistant coach with the Lady Bears. Davis, who last served as a head coach in 2012 to conclude 12 season's at the helm of Delaware State, enters this season with a career record of 349-236 in 20 seasons.
 
PUTTING THE CLAMPS DOWN: The Lady Bears' defense held the visiting Shock of Washington Adventist to just three points in the second quarter and nine for the entire first half. The three points scored by WAU were the lowest points output in a quarter by a Morgan State opponent since the NCAA went to the quarter system in the women's game. The nine total points in the first half, were the lowest since Morgan State held rival Coppin State to 13 first half points on Dec. 14, 2010.
 
STILL UNBEATEN: The Lady Bears entered the season with a perfect record against just one of this season's opponents in Washington Adventist. Morgan State remained unbeaten against the Shock, improving to 3-0, following a 79-28 victory in its home opener (Nov. 17). Last season the Lady Bears defeated WAU, 74-36 in the home and season opener on Nov. 15, 2015 in Baltimore.
 
MORGAN PICKED FIFTH IN MEAC: Morgan State was picked to finish fifth 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 ninth, but put together an 13-17 overall mark and finished 10-6 in the MEAC to finish fifth.
 
FARRAR NAMED TO PRESEASON MEAC SECOND TEAM: MSU junior 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 (13.7), while leading the Lady Bears in assists (98), steals (63), three-pointers made (46), while shooting a team-best .794 (104-131) from the free throw line. This is the second consecutive preseason second-team All-MEAC honor for Farrar, who last season was named to the 2015-16 All-MEAC second team at the conclusion of the season.
 
OWSLEY NAMED ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH: Wanika Owsley was promoted to associate head coach this October by interim head coach Ed Davis. Owsley, who is in her second stint at Morgan State, enters her sixth season overall with the Lady Bears' program. Owsley had previously spent the 2009-10 season at Morgan State, where she helped the Lady Bears to a 17-13 and then school-best third-place regular season finish in the MEAC. She returned to Morgan State. during the 2012-13 campaign after spending two seasons as an assistant coach on the Mississippi State women's staff. A native of Indianapolis, Ind., Owsley earned a degree in computer science from Southeast Missouri State, where she helped the Redhawks to a 46-16 overall record and their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance during her senior season.
 
MORGAN IN SEASON OPENERS: The Lady Bears fell to 11-29 all-time in season openers dating back to 1977, following its 65-50 road loss to Mount St. Mary's (11/15/16). 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 the season at home and defeated Washington Adventist by a score of 74-36 (11/15/15).
 
GRAHAM RETURNS AS ASSISTANT COACH: Morgan State interim head coach Ed Davis completed his coaching staff with the hiring of Donchez Graham as an assistant coach. Graham is no stranger to Morgan State, as this will be his second stint with the Lady Bears and fifth season overall. Graham returns to Morgan after spending the past two year (2014-16) as the head basketball trainer at Project Rising and the head coach of Team Adidas Shooting Stars. He also had stints as assistant coach at both West Virginia University and the University of Charleston. During his first stint at Morgan State (2005-09), Graham helped the Lady Bears to 53 victories in four seasons, while reaching the 2007 MEAC title game in his second season and the 2008 WNIT, the program's first postseason invitation on the Division I level, in his third season.  
 
REMATCH: The Lady Bears have four rematch games this season against non-conference opponents from the 2015-16 schedule. Those opponents are Washington Adventist, Missouri-Kansas City, University of Maryland Baltimore County and Brown. Last season Morgan State went 1-3 against those opponents with its lone win coming over Washington Adventist.
 
TOURNAMENT EXPOSURE: Six of Morgan's 2016-17 opponents reached postseason play last season. Two opponents reached the 2016 Women's NCAA Tournament (Robert Morris and defending MEAC Tournament champion, North Carolina A&T). Three competed in the 2016 Women's National Invitational Tournament (Saint Louis, Marshall and MEAC foe Bethune-Cookman), while one (UMBC) took part in the Women's Basketball Invitational.