SAVANNAH, Ga. (Feb. 10, 2018)-Morgan State seniors Lexus Spears and Tykyrah Williams each scored a game-high 19 points to lead the visiting Lady Bears past Savannah State, 70-41 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) contest on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Arena.

Morgan State improved to 13-11, 6-5 in the MEAC with the win, while Savannah State dropped to 4-18, 1-9 MEAC.

The 70 points are the most the Lady Bears have scored since they scored 73 in a win over Savannah State in Baltimore (Jan. 8).

Saturday's win helped the Lady Bears sweep the season series against the Lady Tigers, while spoiling Savannah State's homecoming festivities in what could have been Morgan State's last trip to Savannah State for a MEAC contest. Savannah State prior to the start of the 2017-18 athletic season announced that they will leave the conference following the 2018-19 season to move back to the Division II level.

The 29-point win is Morgan State's largest MEAC margin of victory this season and the largest conference win since defeating rival Coppin State last season by 29 points, 71-42 in the home finale (Feb. 27, 2017).

"The difference in tonight's game was simply that we just wanted it more," said Spears. "We came to prove a point and I believe we very well proved it. We can be unstoppable if we play our game and focus of winning."

Williams, who had been limited to just two points apiece in Morgan State's previous two games, shot 7-of-11 from the field and pulled down eight rebounds. Spears shot 8-of-13 and finished with six rebounds. Fellow senior Braennan Farrar added 10 points and six rebounds and sophomore Jihayah Chavis pulled down eight boards, as Morgan State held a 45-38 rebounding advantage over the Lady Tigers.

"As a team we just came out and played like we know how too," said Williams. "I just went with the same flow as everyone else. I let the game come to me. We came out with good energy and we had the same energy all four quarters and didn't let up."

Georgia native Aunesha Williams also had a big night for the Lady Bears. Playing in front of family and friends, the Powder Springs, Ga. native, came off the bench to grab a game-high nine rebounds, dished out a game-high five assists and had three steals, all season-bests, while scoring four points.

"I'm so proud of Nesha," said Spears. "She did a remarkable job. This is what we have needed from her all season. Our chemistry together is really something crazy. We came home to show up and show out and we both did."

Tykyrah Williams and Farrar each had five and four assists, respectively, as Morgan State recorded 20 assists in the game to just three for Savannah State.

Defensively, Morgan State played possibly its best basketball this season.

The Lady Bears held Savannah State to eight points in the first quarter and closed out the game limiting the host Lady Tigers to just one field goal and three points in the fourth quarter after holding them scoreless for the first 6 minutes and eight seconds of the fourth quarter.

"It feels unbelievable," said Spears on Saturday's dominating performance by the Lady Bears. "We really have the tools to dominate every game if we continue to play defense like that against the rest of our opponents."

The 41 points allowed by the Lady Bears tied a season-low for opponent scoring this season, matching that of Lincoln-Pa. and Central Connecticut State.

Morgan State also improved to 11-1 on the season, when holding an opponent under 60 points.

"Coach Davis always preaches to us 'defense, defense, defense,' and today it looked like we were buying in on just that," said Farrar. "We let the game come to us today as a whole, offensively and defensively."

Savannah State was led by Kaylee Allen, who scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the first half, while grabbing eight rebounds and recording a game-high four steals. Alexxus Sowell had a game-high nine rebounds for the Lady Tigers.

Allen started the game off hitting two free throws and the Lady Bears responded with 10 straight points, capped off with a three-pointer by Farrar with 7:10 to play in the first quarter. Two straight three-pointers by Allen brought Savannah State within 15-8 with 2:50 left in the quarter. Morgan State would close out the period with a mini 5-0 run to take a 20-8 lead after a quarter of play.

The Lady Bears, who held a 39-23 lead at the intermission and led 61-38 after three quarters of play, held the host Lady Tigers scoreless for the first 6:08 of the fourth quarter. Morgan State took its largest lead of the game at 30 points (68-38) on a free throw by Tykyrah Williams with 4:18 left in the contest.

Savannah State got its first and only field goal of the period on a jumper by Praise Russell at the 3:52 mark and Sabree Gallishaw connected on the second of two free throws with 2:29 remaining for the third and final point of the quarter for the Lady Tigers.  

Morgan State's Aunesha Williams would record her fifth steal of the game and go coast-to-coast for a layup with 33 seconds left for the game's final score.

The Lady Bears will now travel to Tallahassee, Fla. to take on the Lady Rattlers of Florida A&M (FAMU) on Monday, Feb. 12 at 6 pm. at the Al Lawson Center. FAMU was an 84-81 overtime winner at home on Saturday over North Carolina Central.

"All we have to do is stay focused on what we did great this game and continue to feed and build off of our little mistakes," said Spears. "If we play team ball like we did today, we will leave this road trip 2-0.