NORFOLK, Va. (March 5, 2018)-Morgan State senior Tykyrah Williams scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to lead Morgan State past crosstown rival Coppin State, 58-51 a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament first round game on Monday evening at the Norfolk Scope Arena.

Fellow senior Lexus Spears also recorded a double-double, finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds, as the Lady Bears earned their first MEAC Tournament win since a first round victory over North Carolina Central on March 7, 2016. Monday's win was also the first for Morgan State head coach Edward Davis in two seasons at the helm of the Lady Bears.

Morgan State (16-14) will now take on the defending MEAC Tournament champion Hampton Lady Pirates in a MEAC Quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 8 at noon.

"Hampton is always a tough team to play," said Davis. "They're well prepared and I have the utmost respect for Coach [David] Six. We pretty much know what to expect from Coach, he's going to bring the heat and we're going to try to be prepared for it."

On a day which saw the top seed in each of the first two MEAC first round games fall to the double-digit seed, the sixth-seeded Lady Bears were determined to not become the third victim of the day in their game against No. 11 Coppin State.

"We were aware of the two top seeds falling today. We were all saying we can't be a part of that," said Braennan Farrar, of the back-to-back upset victories by #13 Savannah State over #4 Norfolk State, followed by #12 Florida A&M defeating #6 Howard to open up the tournament. "We were all determined to make it to the next round. Especially since two out of the last three years Coppin has been the team to put us out."

Morgan State and Coppin State had just met a week ago to the day for Morgan State's home finale and 'Senior Night' and the Lady Bears would defeat their crosstown rivals, 73-59. Morgan State's senior class would combine to score 58 points. Spears would set a career-high 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting. Tonight the Lady Bears' seniors would combine for 41 of the 58 points. 

Morgan State extended its 17-16 lead, by going on an 8-0 spurt to take a 25-16 lead with 3:11 left in the first half. The first six of the eight points were scored before Coppin even crossed half court. Spears scored on a layup in the paint and Tayler Miller stole the ball and laid it in and was fouled. Miller would miss the free throw and Adre'onia Coleman grabbed the rebound and laid it in to extend Morgan's lead to 23-16 with 3:50 to play.

The Eagles (6-23) would finally cross half court, but threw the ball away to Spears, who would eventually score on the other end to up the Lady Bears' lead to 25-16. Coppin ended the run when Oluwadamilol Oloyede knocked down two free throws. Another basket by Spears was followed by two free throws by Patricia Albert, cutting the Morgan State lead to 27-20 with 59.4 left in the half. 

25 seconds later Jihaya Chavis would drain a three-pointer from the right elbow to give Morgan State a 30-20 halftime advantage.

Trailing 39-32 after three quarters of play, the Eagles used a 15-5 run, which included 10 straight points to take a 47-44 lead over Morgan State with 6:30 remaining in the game. The Lady Bears would gain control of the game with a 9-0 run to take a 55-49 lead.  

Morgan State, which would hit seven free throws during the run, reclaimed the lead for good at 50-49 on two free throws from Coleman. Williams ended the run with two free throws to put the Lady Bears ahead by six with 32 seconds left.

Coppin State was led by Genesis Lucas, who scored a team-high 16 points and had eight rebounds in her final game for Coppin State. Chance Graham totaled a double-double with 15 points and a team-high 12 rebounds, while Candice Beverly added 12 points.

Morgan State forced 20 Coppin State turnovers and scored 28 points, while the Lady Eagles scored 12 points on 12 Morgan State turnovers. 

The Lady Bears shot 19-of-65 for 29 percent, while Coppin shot 26 percent (12-of-46). Morgan State connected on 16-of-25 from the charity stripe for 64 percent. The Eagles shot 92 percent (25-of-27) from the free throw line.

"We beat a very good Coppin team…I think they made a great adjustment in the second half, forced us into some uncharacteristic play and actually came back to take the lead," said Davis. "The fourth quarter I felt our kids didn't want to go home and stepped up and turned the defense up just a little bit to kind of contain Genesis Lucas and also Chance Graham. This group I think can go as far as they want to."