BALTIMORE, Md. (Dec. 5, 2020)-Morgan State sophomore Ja'Niah Henson scored a team-high 12 points and junior Ashia McCalla added 11 points, as the Lady Bears defeated visiting Saint Peter's, 65-57 in a non-conference game Saturday afternoon at Hill Field House.
 
Morgan State begins the season 2-0 for the first time since 2008-09, when that team began the season 3-0. The win also helped the Lady Bears avenge a tough one-point road loss to Saint Peter's a year ago and put an end to a 10-game losing skid to the Peacocks, who now lead the all-time series, 11-2.
 
Junior transfer Khaliah Hines came off the bench to score nine points, while graduate transfer Nina Carpenter came up big for Morgan State defensively, recording a team-high eight rebounds, seven of which were defensive and had a game-high five blocks to go with eight points in the win.
 
Morgan State (2-0) used a 14-0 run to jump out to a 16-3 advantage, when graduate transfer Takara Wade knocked down a three-pointer with 3:07 left to play in the first quarter.
 
The Peacocks (1-2) finally got going when Ajia James scored five of the final seven points for Saint Peter's to bring the guests within 20-10 after a quarter of play.
 
Six straight points by Morgan State gave the hosts their largest lead of the afternoon (16 points) at 28-12 when Hines scored on a layup at the 4:47 mark.
 
Kendrea Williams started to heat up for Saint Peter's, as she hit three straight three-pointers to bring the Peacocks within 33-23 with 2:12 remaining.
 
Morgan State took a 35-24 lead into the locker room and led by five points (48-43) at the end of the third quarter.
 
Williams began the fourth period hitting her fifth and final three-pointer of the game to cut Morgan's lead to 48-46 with 8:39 remaining in the game. McCalla responded 23 seconds later with a trey of her own to increase the Lady Bears' lead to 51-46.
 
A 9-4 run by the Peacocks evened the score at 55-55 after a layup by Taiah Thornton. Morgan State would close out the game on a 10-2 spurt over the final 3:11 to earn the 65-57 victory.
 
Saint Peter's was led by Williams, who came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. Thornton scored 12 points, dished out a game-high five assists and had a game-high four steals. Sky Castro led all players with a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
Morgan shot 52.6 percent (20-of-38) for the game, including a period high of 66.7 percent (6-of-9) in the second quarter.
 
The Peacocks shot 20-of-64 (31.3 percent) for the game. Saint Peter's held a 39-30 rebounding advantage over Morgan. The guests forced the Lady Bears into 26 turnovers and committed 16 turnovers themselves.
 
Morgan State will now await Navy on Friday, Dec. 18 at Hill Field House.



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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution offering more than 126 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.