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Game 14
Opponent: Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (3-9)
Date: Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Site: Baltimore, Md. (Hill Field House)
Game Time: 5:30 p.m. 
Series Record: MDES leads series, 41-36
Watch: morganstatebears.com
Radio: WEAA 88.9 FM/HSRN.com
Live Stats: www.morganstatebears.com
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.easternshorehawks.com
 
BALTIMORE, Md. (Jan. 2, 2018)-Morgan State will begin 2018 at home, when it welcomes the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to Hill Field House on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 5:30 p.m. The contest will be the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener for both teams. A win by Morgan State will give the team a 6-0 start at home and extend its home winning streak to seven straight dating back to last season.
 
BEAR CLAWS: Morgan State (7-6) is coming off a 65-59 victory at UMass Lowell (12/28) to conclude its non-conference slate. The victory helped the Lady Bears finish non-conference play with a 7-6 mark, their first non-conference winning record since the 2008-09 season. Lexus Spears scored a game-high 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting and added seven rebounds to lead the Lady Bears. Braennan Farrar finished with 16 points and dished out a game-high six assists, while Adre'onia Coleman recorded a double-double with 11 points and a game– and season-high 10 rebounds. Coleman also had three of the Lady Bears' four blocked shots. Spears has paced the Lady Bears in scoring this season with an average of 14.3 points and also leads the team with 6.8 rebounds per game. Farrar is adding 12.6 points and 5.2 boards per outing, while leading the team with 49 assists and 38 steals.
 
SCOUTING THE HAWKS: Maryland Eastern Shore (3-9) is coming off a 64-54 loss at East Carolina on Dec. 28. Alexus Hicks came off the bench to score a team-best 11 points and Dominique Walker added 10 points in a reserve role. Jordyn Smith led the Hawks with eight rebounds. The Hawks held an 11-9 lead after one quarter of play, but was outscored 20-7 in the second quarter and trailed 29-18 at the break. Bairesha Gill-Miles has paced the Hawks with 11.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Ciani Byrom is averaging 9.0 points in the three games she's played. Maryland Eastern Shore is 0-7 on the road this season.
 
MORGAN STATE VS. MDES SERIES NOTES: The Hawks lead the all-time series, 41-36. The Lady Bears won last year's lone meeting, 66-62 in the season finale in Princess Anne, Md. (3/2/17).
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will continue its three-game homestand when it welcomes the Lady Rattlers of Florida A&M to Hill Field House on Saturday, Jan. 3. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.
 
LAST TIMEOUT: LOWELL, Mass. (Dec. 28, 2017) -The Morgan State women's basketball team concluded its 2017 scheduled, as well as its non-conference slate with a 65-59 road victory over UMass Lowell on Thursday evening at Costello Athletic Center. With the win, Morgan State closed out its non-conference slate with a 7-6 record, marking its first non-conference winning record since the 2008-09 squad finished 8-4 in non-conference play. Morgan State ended a season-long three-game losing skid with the victory, while UMass Lowell fell to 3-9 on the season and has now lost its last three games. Lexus Spears led the Lady Bears with a game-high 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting and added seven rebounds. Braennan Farrar finished with 16 points and dished out a game-high six assists, while Adre'onia Coleman recorded a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Coleman would also have three of the Lady Bears' four blocked shots.
 
DEFENDING HOME: Morgan State will look to improve to 6-0 at home this season when it entertains Maryland Eastern Shore on Wednesday. The Lady Bears remained unbeaten at Hill Field House this season, when it defeated Florida International, 62-51 (12/4) to improve to 5-0 at home with the win. The Lady Bears' other wins included a 55-43 defeat of NJIT (12/2), a 61-41 victory over Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 26) and two wins against Division II foes, Lincoln-Pa. (60-41) and Cheyney (123-53) in the home opener.
 
SPEARS NAMED MEAC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK: MSU senior forward Lexus Spears was named MEAC Co-Player of the Week by the league office on Tuesday, Jan. 2. It was the second MEAC honor for Spears this season, who was named MEAC Player of the Week on Dec. 5, 2017. Spears scored a game-high 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting to lead the Lady Bears to a 65-59 win at UMass Lowell (12/28). Spears also added seven rebounds, an assist and a steal in the victory, which gave Morgan State its first non-conference winning record at 7-6, since the 2008-09 team went 8-4 during non-conference play.
 
SPEARS EARNS 3RD MADNESS HONOR: Lexus Spears was named Madness Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Women's Basketball Player of the Week (1/1) by the staff of College Sports Madness for the second consecutive week. It was the third honor this season for Spears, who also received the honor on Dec. 4 and Dec. 11. A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Spears finished with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting to lead four Morgan State players in double figures scoring in a 73-68 road loss at Marshall on Dec. 6. Spears would also add four rebounds and a block in the loss, which snapped the Lady Bears' season-long four-game winning streak.
 
THREE-GAME SLIDE: The Lady Bears ended their season-long three-game losing skid with a 65-59 victory at UMass Lowell (12/28). All three of the losses came on the road and Morgan averaged just 40.5 points in two of the losses at No. 10 West Virginia and Colorado State.
 
COLEMAN RECORDS DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Adre'onia Coleman  picked up her first double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and a game– and season-high 10 rebounds at UMass Lowell (12/28).
 
FARRAR ON THE RISE: Braennan "BeBe" Farrar continues to make her move up several of Morgan State's statistical charts. Farrar currently ranks fourth all-time at Morgan State in assists with 307. The St. Louis, Mo. native is fifth all-time in steals with 206 and is three steals shy of moving into fourth-place. Farrar also ranks seventh in scoring with 1,374 points. 
 
A NEW SEASON: What a difference a year makes. Last season the Lady Bears finished the 2016-17 campaign with a 9-21 mark. This year, Morgan State head coach Edward Davis Jr. has already guided the Lady Bears to seven wins through their first 13 games. A year ago the Lady Bears didn't record their seventh win until the 26th game of the season, a 71-52 victory on the road at Delaware State on Feb. 20, 2017.
 
TAKE TWO: Morgan State recorded its second road victory of the season when it defeated UMass Lowell (12/28) to improve to 2-6 on the road. Morgan's other road victory came at Central Connecticut (11/29).