Game #27
Morgan State "Lady Bears" (12-14, 10-4 MEAC) at Coppin State "Lady Eagles" (11-15, 8-6 MEAC)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016 / 2 p.m.
Place: Baltimore, Md. (Hill Field House)
Series: Coppin State leads, 37-32
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Morgan State Notes | Coppin State Notes | MEAC Notes

BALTIMORE, Md. (Feb. 21, 2016)-The Morgan State women's basketball team will look to record back-to-back regular season sweeps over its crosstown rivals, Coppin State, when the two teams square off on Saturday, Feb. 27 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game at the Physical Education Complex Arena.
 
The Morgan-Coppin rivalry alone is enough to draw an overflow crowd, but Saturday's contest will also be Homecoming for the Lady Eagles, as well as 'Senior Day' and the final home game for five Coppin State seniors.
 
"Just the festivities that a Morgan-Coppin game brings, it's such a rivalry," said Coppin State head coach Derek Brown. "I try to tell my kids it's just one game and if you win this one and lose the next one it all nullifies its self out. But it is bigger than what it is and you have to rise to it because it is a rivalry."
 
Morgan State, which is looking to sweep the regular season series for a second consecutive year, won the first meeting earlier this month, 72-51 at home on Feb. 1.
 
"Both teams know each other because they play against each other in the summer time, but it's just a thing that it's Coppin-Morgan," said Brown. "And now you put homecoming on top of it. I expect a full house and people to be at the game that only basically come once a year.
 
"Then on top of that, its senior day," added Brown. "I have five of them. So those five people will probably be ready to explode by the time 2 o'clock gets here on Saturday. So, I think our kids will be pumped up to play. They have to be."
  
BEAR CLAWS: The Lady Bears (12-14, 9-3 MEAC), winners of six of their past eight games, are coming off a 65-55 loss at home on Monday to North Carolina A&T. The loss was the fifth straight to the Lady Aggies and knocked Morgan State out of sole possession of first-place in the MEAC standings and into second place. Meanwhile, N.C. A&T moved from second-place into a two-way tie with Hampton for first. Morgan State's Braennan Farrar, who entered the contest as the fourth leading scorer in the MEAC at 14.7 points per game, would be held scoreless on 0-for-11 shooting, including 0-for-5 from three-point range. Tykyrah Williams scored a game-high 19 points and added a team-high eight rebounds in the loss to the Lady Aggies. Lexus Spears finished with 14 points and five rebounds. Morgan State has been paced this season by Farrar, who is averaging 14.1 points per game. Farrar also leads the Lady Bears in assists (87) and steals (56). Williams is averaging 10.6 points, while Spears is adding 8.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per outing. Zuri White leads the team in rebounding with 7.8 per game.
 
EAGLE SCRATCHES: Coppin State (11-15, 8-6 MEAC) enters its homecoming game riding a four-game winning streak, following a 56-47 road win at Norfolk State (2/22). Omaah Tayong finished with a double-double, scoring a game-high 13 points and pulling down a team-best 10 rebounds to go with a game-high three blocked shots. Janelle Lane scored 11 points, while Keena Samuels added 10 points. Samuels leads the team in scoring with 11.5 points per game and has collected 48 assists, and 41 steals. Lane is averaging 11.2 points to go with 5.2 rebounds and a team-high 31 steals. Amber Griffin is adding 9.7 points per game and is second on the team in assists (61), while Tayong is contributing 9.4 points and grabbing a team-leading 8.6 rebounds. Jordan Swails (8.7 ppg) ranks second in rebounding with 6.2 boards per game and is second on the team in steals with 47. Genesis Lucas (7.8 points) has a team-best 112 assists and a team-high 59 steals.
 
MSU VS. COPPIN STATE SERIES NOTES: The Lady Eagles hold a 37-32 all-time series lead over Morgan State. The Lady Bears have won four of the last five games, including a 72-51 thumping of Coppin State earlier this month (2/1) at Hill Field House. Last season the Lady Bears swept the season series, marking the first time they won both games over Coppin State since the 2012-13 season. The two teams would meet a third time with the Lady Eagles defeating Morgan State, 71-56 in a MEAC first round game (3/10/15). It was Morgan State's first loss to Coppin State in a MEAC Tournament contest in four tries.
 
NEXT UP: The Lady Bears will close out the regular season next Thursday, March 3, when they host the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in the MEAC and home finale at Hill Field House. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. and will be the Senior Night for Morgan State seniors, Dinah Jones and Simone Sampson. 
 
ROAD STRUGGLES: The Lady Bears, who at the start of the season struggled on the road, have won five of their past seven road games, including three consecutive games at one point. Morgan, which began the season 0-8 away from home, including two neutral court losses during the Navy Classic (11/27-28) in Annapolis, Md., is now 5-10 away from home. The Lady Bear earned their first win away from Hill Field House, following a 77-69 overtime victory over UMES on Monday, Jan. 11. Prior to that win, the Lady Bears had not won a road contest since last year's regular season finale against Maryland Eastern Shore (3/5/15), a 65-50 victory.
 
PARTY CRASHERS: The Lady Bears have been invited guests at both Norfolk State's Alumni Day (Feb. 13) and Savannah State's homecoming basketball game on Feb. 6 and spoiled both festivities. The Lady Bears defeated Norfolk State, 59-56 and earned a 66-60 triple overtime win over the Lady Tigers. Morgan State will also serve as this season's homecoming opponent of rival Coppin State when the two square off on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. at the Physical Education Complex Arena.
 
THE PURGE: Whether it's a big scoring run, or huge scoring outputs in a quarter, Morgan State opponents have been having their way with the Lady Bears this season under the new quarter system. While predicting which quarter it will be is unknown, knowing its going to happen, thus far this season is a given. Through 26 games, the first and third quarters have been big for MSU opponents. The Lady Bears have been outscored a combined 55 points (350-295) in the first and by 68 points (428-360) in the third quarter. In the loss to UMBC (12/12), it would be the third quarter, which the Lady Bears saw a 30-26 lead turn into a 52-30 deficit, as the Retrievers scored 26 straight points and held Morgan State scoreless during a seven minute span. UMBC would score 32 points in the third quarter, to surpass the previous opponent high for points in a quarter of 31 points the Lady Bears gave up to then No. 23 Syracuse in the fourth quarter on Nov. 23.
 
BACK IN THE SADDLE: Morgan State sophomore Braennan Farrar will return to the starting line up on Saturday when the Lady Bears take on rival Coppin State. Roughly a little over an hour before tip-off of Monday's game against N.C. A&T, Farrar was ruled out of the game due to an insurance billing situation, which was not properly resolved. The incident would eventually get rectified with no wrong doing on Farrar's part and she was cleared to play. After missing the first nine minutes and 12.5 seconds of the game, Farrar would finally enter the contest. Unfortunately, she never got to warm up prior the game. As a result, she didn't get into the flow of the game and had her worst outing as a Lady Bear, going scoreless for the night on 0-for-11 shooting, including 0-for-5 from three-point range. 
 
SAYING GOODBYE: Morgan State will say goodbye to its two seniors, Dinah Jones and Simone Sampson prior to next Thursday's regular season finale against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (March 3). Tip-off for the 'Senior Night' contest is at 5:30 p.m. at Hill Field House.
  
BEASLEY ALL-TIME COACHIING LEADER: 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 (123-166), following a 57-50 win over Florida A&M (1/17/15), currently holds a 140-192 all-time record at Morgan State.
 
2016 MEAC TOURNAMENT: The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men's and women's basketball tournament is scheduled for March 7-12, 2016 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. Ticket books can be purchased at all 13 MEAC university ticket offices, as well as 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 after spending four years in Winston-Salem, N.C. from 2009 through 2012.
 
STARTED AT THE BOTTOM: Last season Morgan State finished the 2014-15 campaign also in last place (343rd) in field goal percentage. This season the Lady Bears currently rank last (344th) in the nation in field goal percentage through 26 games at 31.2 percent (507-of-1624). In the loss at James Madison (11/17), Morgan State shot a season-low 18.3 percent (11-of-60).
 
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).