TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Jan. 9, 2017)-The Morgan State women's basketball team wrapped up its trip to the Sunshine State on Monday evening with a disappointing 51-48 loss to Florida A&M in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game at Al Lawson Center.
 
The Lady Bears (2-14, 0-3 MEAC), who have now lost a season-high eight consecutive games, fell to 13-34 all-time against the Rattlers. For FAMU, the win ended a two-game losing skid and marked the first Division I victory of the season for the hosts.
 
Tykyrah Williams led the Lady Bears with a game-high 12 points and hauled in a team-leading seven rebounds. Jihayah Davis came off the bench to score nine points. Jayde Duncan finished with seven points and six rebounds, while Janessa Fauntroy came off the bench to add a season-high seven points on 2-for-3 shooting and had four rebounds.
 
Florida A&M (3-13, 1-2 MEAC) was led by Cedricka Sweeting, who finished with a game-high 12 points, including a 3-for-4 performance from three-point range. Shalunda Burney-Robinson came off the bench to score 10 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and Kennedy Burks also scored 10 points in a reserve role. Shakerrya Morrison tallied eight rebounds, as the Rattlers would hold a 41-31 rebounding cushion over Morgan State.
 
Morgan State led for just under the first 35 minutes of the game, but it would be the final five minutes that would do in the Lady Bears.
 
The Lady Bears, who led by as much as 10 points in the second quarter and held a 25-22 lead at the intermission, took a 43-38 lead on a free throw by Chavis with 6:57 remaining. FAMU responded with a 6-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 44-43, following a pair of free throws by Burney-Robinson with 5:19 to play. The host Rattlers would then outscore Morgan State, 7-5 down the stretch to hold on for the victory.
 
The Rattlers held a 26-22 advantage in points in the paint and 12-3 in second chance points. FAMU would also outscore Morgan State, 31-16 in bench scoring.
 
The Lady Bears forced 19 turnovers out of FAMU, 11 of which were steals. However, Morgan State managed to turn those turnovers into 11 points.
 
The hosts shot 33.3 percent (18-of-54) for the game and the Lady Bears finished 17-of-49 (34.7 percent). Both teams shot 16 three-pointers with the Rattlers making four, one more than Morgan State.
 
FAMU connected on 11-of-16 from the charity stripe (68.8 percent) for the game. The Lady Bears went to the free throw line 17 times and made 11 for 64.7 percent, a far cry from the three free throw attempts they had the entire game at Bethune-Cookman on Saturday.
 
Morgan State will be off until next Monday, Jan. 16, when they return to Hill Field House to host defending MEAC Tournament champion, North Carolina A&T State. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m.