DOVER, Del. (Jan. 4, 2020)-Sharajah Collins scored 12 points and Lyric Turner came off the bench to score 12 to lead four Delaware State players in double figures scoring to help the Hornets to a 69-61 victory over Morgan State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) opener at Memorial Hall on Saturday.
Lanayjha Ashe finished with 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the three-point arc and Tierra Floyd recorded a double-double with 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds for the Hornets.
The win ended a four-game losing skid for the Hornets (5-9, 1-0 MEAC), while picking up their fourth straight win over Morgan State to improve to 44-35 all-time against the Lady Bears. Morgan State on the other hand dropped its third consecutive game and fell to 4-10, 0-1 MEAC on the season.
Chelsea Mitchell scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds to earn her fifth double-double of the season to lead the Lady Bears. Mitchell, who ranks seventh in the nation in steals with 3.77 per game, finished with a game-best three steals to give her 52 for the season and 130 for her career as a Lady Bear.
Ashia McCalla scored 20 points, while connecting on 5-of-10 shooting from three-point range and Dahnye Redd added 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Jihayah Chavis dished out a game-high eight assists, giving her 235 for her career to move her past former Lady Bear Whitney Johnson (232 assists from 2003-07) for 10th-place all-time at Morgan State.
Morgan State scored the first seven points of the game, but the hosts used a 16-4 run to take a 16-11 advantage after Floyd connected on a free throw to complete a three-point play and give the Hornets the five-point lead with 2:10 remaining in the opening period. Floyd also hit a three-pointer during the run to give Delaware State its first lead of the game (13-11) at the 2:57 mark. A lead the Hornets would never relinquish.
The Hornets began the second period using a 17-2 spurt to increase their lead to 37-17, capped off by a trey from Janasia Law with 5:17 left in the second quarter. Delaware State took its largest lead of the evening (21 points) at 41-20 on two free throws by Turner with 2:35 remaining in the first half and carried a 43-25 lead into the locker room.
Morgan State entered the fourth stanza trailing 56-40, and behind its defensive pressure and clutch shooting from McCalla behind the arc, the Lady Bears were able to pull within six points (62-56) with 2:49 left in the contest after going on a 16-6 run. However, Morgan State would come up empty on its next three possessions until Redd knocked down two free throws with 56 seconds left to bring the Lady Bears within five points at 63-58.
The Lady Bears will welcome South Carolina State for the first home game of 2020 on Monday, Jan. 6 at 5:30 p.m. at Hill Field House. The Lady Bulldogs (2-12, 1-0 MEAC) were a 71-60 overtime winner at Coppin State on Saturday.
