Gameday

Game #21
Morgan State "Lady Bears" (8-12, 6-2 MEAC) at Savannah State "Lady Tigers" (6-14, 3-6 MEAC)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016 / 4 p.m.
Place: Savannah, Ga. (Tiger Arena)
Series: Savannah State leads, 4-3
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Game #22
Morgan State "Lady Bears" (8-12, 6-2 MEAC) at South Carolina State "Lady Bulldogs" (8-11, 4-5 MEAC)
Date: Monday, Feb. 8, 2016 / 5:30 p.m.
Place: Orangeburg, S.C. (Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center)
Series: South Carolina State leads, 36-25
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Morgan State Game Notes | Savannah State Notes | South Carolina State Notes | MEAC Notes
 
BALTIMORE, Md. (Feb. 3, 2016)-The Lady Bears, winners of five of their last six games, begin a four-game road swing away from Hill Field House when they travel to Savannah, Ga. to take on the Lady Tigers of Savannah State on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. It will be Homecoming for the Lady Tiger basketball program. Morgan State will then visit the Lady Bulldogs of South Carolina State on Monday, Feb. 8 at 5:30 p.m. in Orangeburg, S.C.
 
BEAR CLAWS: The Lady Bears (8-12, 6-2 MEAC) concluded a successful two-game mini homestand, following a 72-51 thumping of crosstown rival Coppin State on Monday, Feb. 1.  The 21-point win was the largest margin of victory for the Lady Bears over Coppin State since a 23-point (76-53) victory over the Eagles in a MEAC Tournament contest in Richmond, Va. (3/4/99). Tykyrah Williams scored a team-high 18 points, while Lexus Spears and Braennan Farrar each added 15 points, as the Lady Bears won their sixth contest in the last eight meetings against the Eagles. Farrar, who had a game-high five steals, also tied Zuri White (game-high nine rebounds) for team-high honors in assists with five. Danielle Robinson came off the bench to contribute 11 points. Morgan State has been led by Farrar, who is scoring 14.6 points per game and also leads the squad in assists (60) and steals (42). Williams is averaging 9.5 points, while Spears is adding 8.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest. White is the team's leading rebounder with 7.4 boards per outing.
 
TIGER STRIPES: Defending MEAC Tournament champion Savannah State (6-14, 3-6 MEAC) has lost two straight and four of their past five contests. The Lady Tigers are coming off a 50-44 loss at Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday. Tiyonda Davis scored a team-high 10 points and added 10 rebounds and seven blocks in the loss. It was her second double-double of the season for Davis, whose seven blocked shots tied a career-high and gave her 178 for her career, which moved her into second-place in school history in the Division I era. Rhianna Warren added 10 points and three rebounds, while Kenyata Hendrix added nine points. Hendrix leads Savannah State in scoring with 11.8 points per game and has a team-high 38 assists. Davis is the team's leading rebounder with 7.4 boards per game and leads the squad with 58 of the team's 82 blocked shots.

MSU VS. SAVANNAH STATE SERIES NOTES: The Tigers lead the all-time series, 4-3. Savannah State has won two straight and three of the last four meetings. Last season Savannah State defeated Morgan State, 72-58 in Baltimore (2/7/15).  
 
DOG BISCUTS: South Carolina State (8-11, 4-5 MEAC), losers of two straight, are coming off a 79-61 road loss to Delaware State on Saturday, Jan. 30. Brittany Drumgoole scored a team-high 13 points and added five assists and two steals in the loss. Amber Howard finished with 10 points and had a game-high six assists. Toni Grier and Jazzmine Johnson each added 10 points, while Jasmine Coleman fell shy of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds to go with four blocks. JaQuanna Murray finished with a game-high five blocked shots. Drumgoole leads the Lady Bears in scoring with 9.2 points per game. Howard is adding 8.6 points and is tied with Drumgoole with a team-leading 38 assists. Coleman (7.1 points) leads the Lady Bulldogs in rebounding with 7.5 per game to go with her team-high 34 steals and ranks second in blocks with 21. Murray has recorded a team-best 24 blocks this season. 
 
MSU VS. SOUTH CAROLINA STATE SERIES NOTES: South Carolina State leads the all-time series, 36-25. Last season Morgan State ended a three-game losing skid to the Lady Bulldogs, following a 54-46 victory at Hill Field House (2/9/15).  
 
NEXT UP: Following Monday's game against South Carolina State, the Lady Bears will visit the Tidewater area of Virginia for two MEAC games. Morgan State will first take on Norfolk State on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. at Echols Hall, before heading to Hampton to take on the Lady Pirates on Monday, Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. inside the HU Convocation Center.
  
ROAD STRUGGLES: The Lady Bears, who have struggled on the road this season, are 2-9 away from home. Morgan State earned its first win away from Hill Field House, following a 77-69 overtime victory over UMES on Monday, Jan. 11. Prior to the win, Morgan State was 0-8 away from home, including two neutral court losses during the Navy Classic (11/27-28) in Annapolis, Md. 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.
 
WHITE SETS CAREER-HIGH: Zuri White put on an offensive display scoring a career-high 22 points against Howard (1/30). The Durham, N.C. native shot 8-for-11 from the floor and made all six of her free throw attempts. Whit also pulled down 13 of Morgan State's 48 rebounds to record her second double-double of her career.
 
FARRAR TIES CAREER-HIGH: Braennan Farrar tied her career-high of 12 assists against Howard (1/30). She first totaled 12 assists earlier this season in the season opener against Washington Adventist (11/15).
 
PERFECTION: The Lady Bears were a perfect 18-of-18 (100 percent) from the charity line in their win over Howard (1/30). It marked the first time this season that Morgan State made all of its free throw attempts.
 
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 so far this season. While predicting which quarter it will be is unknown, knowing its going to happen, thus far this season is a given. Through 20 games, the first and third quarters have been big for MSU opponents. The Lady Bears have been outscored a combined 60 points (284-224) in the first and by 80 points (354-274) 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.
 
FARRAR NAMED MADNESS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Braennan Farrar earned Madness MEAC Player of the Week honors as announced by the staff of College Sports Madness (Jan. 18). A native of St. Louis, Mo., Farrar totaled 48 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals to lead the Lady Bears to a 2-0 week. She totaled a season-best 27 points and added seven rebounds and two steals in a win over Maryland Eastern Shore (1/11) and finished with 21 points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals at Florida A&M (1/16).
 
WHITE GRABS CAREER– AND MEAC-BEST 20 REBOUNDS: Zuri White pulled down a career-high and MEAC-best 20 rebounds at Florida A&M (1/16). White also scored 10 points to earn her first double-double of the season. Her 20 rebounds rank fourth on the Morgan State career charts and surpassed her previous high of 14 rebounds against Brown (1/4/15).
 
THREE STRAIGHT: Morgan State's victory over Florida A&M (1/16) gave the Lady Bears their first three-game winning streak of the season and first since Jan. 10-17, 2015 against the very same three teams (Delaware State, Maryland Eastern Shore and Florida A&M).
 
CALL OFF THE SEARCH: While the opportunities have been limited, Morgan State finally recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season, following wins over Delaware State (1/9) and at Maryland Eastern Shore (1/11). It marked the first time the Lady Bears have earned two straight wins since closing out the 2014-15 season with wins over Coppin State (2/28/15) and at Maryland Eastern Shore (3/5/15).
 
WELCOME TO MY BLOCK PARTY: Simone Sampson recorded a career– and game-high five blocked shots in the win at Maryland Eastern Shore (1/11). Her five blocks gave her a team-leading 10 blocks for the season and surpassed her previous career-high of three blocks which she's matched three times.
 
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 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 136-190 all-time record at Morgan State.