Game 29 (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Contest)
Morgan State "Lady Bears" (8-20, 6-9 MEAC) at Maryland Eastern Shore "Hawks" (12-14, 6-9 MEAC)
Date: March 2, 2017 | 5:30 p.m.
Place: Princess Anne, Md. | Hytche Athletic Center
Series: Maryland Eastern Shore leads, 41-35
Video Stream: umeshawks.com
Live Stats: umeshawks.com
Radio: WEAA 88.9 FM
 
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. (March 1, 2017)-Morgan State will look to close out the regular season in style when they visit the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Thursday evening. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. at the Hytche Athletic Center. Both teams enter the game tied for 10^th-place in the league standings with the winner securing the 9^th-seed in the upcoming Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament in Norfolk, Va. (March 6-11).
 
BEAR CLAWS: Morgan State (8-20, 6-9 MEAC) is coming off a 71-42 victory over rival Coppin State on Monday on 'Senior Night.' The Lady Bears led the entire contest and were paced by Braennan Farrar scored a game-high 17 points to lead four Lady Bears in double figures scoring. Chelsea Mitchell finished with 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Zuri White added 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Jihaya Chavis came off the bench to score eight points. It marked the first time this season that all 11 Morgan State players scored in a game.
 
BIRD SEED: The Hawks (12-14, 6-9 MEAC) are coming off a 71-40 thumping at Howard on Monday, which ended a three-game winning streak. Alexus Hicks scored a team-high 11 points and added a game-high nine rebounds. Moengaroa Subritzky totaled 10 points and eight rebounds. MDES has been led by Mariah McCoy, who is averaging 9.7 points, while Subritzky is contributing 9.5 points and leads the Hawks in rebounding with 7.3 per game.   
 
MSU VS. MDES SERIES NOTES: The Hawks lead the all-time series, 41-35. The two teams split last season's series, each winning on the other's floor. The Lady Bears won the first meeting in Princess Anne, Md., before dropping the season finale in Baltimore.
 
NEXT UP: The Lady Bears will head to the MEAC Tournament next week in Norfolk, Va. (March 6-11) at the Norfolk Scope Arena. Morgan State could be has high as the ninth-seed and as low as the 11th-seed depending on the outcome of Thursday's games.
 
SECOND HALF TURNAROUND: After dropping their first eight MEAC contests and going winless in the month of January, Morgan State had since won their first five games during the second half of the conference slate and was a perfect 5-0 in the month of February, prior to a home loss to Hampton (2/25). The Lady Bears would close out the month with a win over rival Coppin State (2/27) to go 6-1 in February.
 
ROAD STRUGGLES: The Lady Bears have struggled on the road this season and are 3-14 away from Hill Field House. However, Morgan State has won its last two road games after the win at Delaware State (2/20). Morgan State ended an eight-game road losing streak this season, following a huge 73-72 victory at Howard (2/13).
 
FIVE STRAIGHT: Morgan State recorded its first five-game winning streak of the season, following its 71-52 victory at Delaware State (2/20). It's the first multi-game winning streak since the Lady Bears won five straight last season from Jan. 30-Feb. 13.
 
IT TAKES A THEIF: The Lady Bears have recorded 323 steals as a team in 28 games played thus far, surpassing the 249 steals a season ago in 30 games played. Breannan Farrar leads the way with a team-best 63, while Chelsea Mitchell and Jihayah Chavis have 41 and 37 steals, respectively. Tykyrah Williams has 35 steals.
 
MOVING UP: Braennan Farrar scored 17 points in the loss to Hampton (2/25), giving her 1,176 points for her career, which ranks 10th-place on the Morgan State charts. Farrar is now 15 points away from surpassing former Lady Bear Adrienne Bond (1,190 points from 1982-86) for ninth all-time at Morgan State.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS: Morgan State currently ranks 31st in the nation in turnover margin at 4.73 per game. Morgan State is also 37th in the nation in scoring defense, holding its opponents to 57.3 points per outing.
 
BACK IN THE HIVE: Morgan State head coach Ed Davis made his first trip back to Memorial Hall (2/20) as an opposing head coach and guided the Lady Bears to a 50-43 victory. Davis, who once patrolled the sidelines for 12 seasons as the head coach of Delaware State Hornets, has yet to lose a game in four trips to Memorial Hall since joining Morgan State as an assistant during the 2012-13 season.
 
SEE YOU SOON: Morgan State and Delaware State met twice this season in a span of nine days. The two closed out their regular season series on Monday, Feb. 20 with the Lady Bears defeating the Hornets, 71-52 at Memorial Hall in Dover, Del. The two teams previously met on Feb. 11 in Baltimore, a game Morgan State also won, 74-49.
 
ALL FIVE INVOLVED: For the first time this season, all five starters scored in double figures in the Lady Bears' victory over Delaware State (2/11). Morgan State's starting five combined for 56 of the 74 points scored in a 74-47 win over the Hornets. Zuri White, Jihaya Chavis and Braennan Farrar all scored 12 points, while Chelsea Mitchell and Tykyrah Williams each added 10 points.
 
IT'S OVER: The Lady Bears' season-long 13-game losing streak came to an end, following a 44-42 victory over North Carolina Central (2/4). The streak surpassed the five-game losing skid Morgan State had earlier in the season and was the longest losing skid for the program since the 2013-14 squad lost 15 consecutive games.
 
MEAC STREAK COMES TO AN END: The Lady Bears picked up their first MEAC victory of the season with a 44-42 victory over North Carolina Central (2/4) at Hill Field House. Prior to the victory, Morgan State had dropped its last 11 straight MEAC regular season contests, dating back to the last three games from the 2015-16 season. Ironically Morgan State's previous regular season MEAC victory also came against North Carolina Central (2/20/16), a 66-55 victory at home.
 
LADY BEARS ASSIST ORANGEBURG COMMUNITY: During the Lady Bears' trip to Orangeburg, SC (1/22-23), the team took some time out to collect and donate toiletries to go towards helping a total of 10 families get back on their feet after they were recently displaced when the Roosevelt Gardens apartment complex caught fire a week earlier in the Orangeburg area.