BALTIMORE, Md. (Jan. 5, 2019)-Morgan State's Adre'onia Coleman recorded her fifth double-double of the season with a game-high 18 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, while Ashia McCalla came of the bench to add a game-high 18 points, but it wasn't enough for the Lady Bears, who dropped their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) opener to visiting Maryland Eastern Shore (MDES), 73-68 on Saturday at Hill Field House.

Jihayah Chavis added 15 points and had a team-high four assists for the Lady Bears (2-13, 0-1 MEAC), who fell to 37-42 overall against the Hawks. 

Maryland Eastern Shore (5-9, 1-0 MEAC) had five players score in double figures, including four starters. Brooklyn Bailey came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including 3-for-3 from three-point range. Ciana Byrom also scored 16 points to tie Bailey for team high honors and had a game-high five assists. Keyera Eaton scored 15 points, while Bairesha Gill-Miles recorded a double-double with 10 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds. Ra'Jean Martin also finished with 10 points. 

Morgan State trailed MDES by as much as 11 points (61-50) in the game, following a layup from Martin with 6:44 to play in the fourth quarter. The hosts would respond with a 15-4 spurt, capped off by a three-pointer from McCalla from the left wing to even the score at 65 all with 2:37 to play.

Byrom would score the next five points on a layup and then connected on a free throw to complete a three-point play to give the guests a 70-65 advantage with 28 seconds remaining. After a free throw by Gill-Miles, McCalla knocked down her third trey of the game to bring the Lady Bears within 71-68 with 8.6 remaining.

Martin would be fouled on the ensuing play and drained both free throws to give the Hawks the 73-68 road victory. The win would be the first in Baltimore for MDES since Mar 3, 2016.

The Hawks shot 44.6 percent (25-of-56) for the game, including 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from three-point range. Morgan State shot 37.5 percent (24-of-64) and was 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from beyond the arc. The Lady Bears went 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) from the charity stripe, while MDES shot 54.2 percent (13-of-24). Both teams grabbed 39 rebounds.

The Lady Bears forced 13 MDES turnovers and turned those into 25 points, while the Hawks scored 15 points on 11 Morgan State turnovers. The guests held a slim 18-16 advantage in second chance points and had a 20-18 lead in bench scoring. Morgan State outscored the Hawks 24-18 in points in the paint and 8-0 in fast break points.

Morgan State will look to regroup when it welcomes Savannah State to Hill Field House on Monday, Jan. 7 at 5:30 p.m. It will be the final meeting between the two teams in Baltimore as members of the MEAC. Savannah State will leave both the conference and the Division I level at the end of the 2018-19 athletic season and return to Division II and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC).

The Lady Tigers (3-7, 1-0 MEAC) enter Monday's contest coming off a 76-70 victory on Saturday at Coppin State, which ended a season-long seven-game losing streak.