BALTIMORE, Md. (Feb. 8, 2020)-Maya Thomas scored a game-high 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 10 of her points in the third quarter to lead visiting Maryland Eastern Shore (MDES) past Morgan State, 71-61 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game on Saturday afternoon at Hill Field House.
The Hawks' win e nded a season-long five-game winning streak for the Lady Bears, who also suffered their first loss at home this season, putting a halt to a 6-0 start at Hill Field House and a seven-game home court winning streak since last season.
A total of five players would score in double figures for the Hawks (5-16, 2-6 MEAC), who had dropped four straight and nine of their previous 10 games, before defeating Morgan State.
Dayona Godwin and Adrienne Jones each came off the bench to score 12 points and grab seven rebounds, while Kenetria Redfern also came off the bench to score 11 points and grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds for a double-double. Makayla Adams finished with 10 points, as the guests outscored Morgan State, 47-7 in bench points.
MDES, which shot 93.8 percent (15-of-16) from the charity stripe, secured the victory by connecting on 9-of-10 free throw attempts over the final 55 seconds to seal the deal.
The Hawks shot 26-of-55 (47 percent) from the floor for the game, while holding Morgan State to 32 percent shooting on 20-of-63. Maryland Eastern Shore also held a 45-31 rebounding edge over Moran State.
The Lady Bears (11-12, 7-3 MEAC), who in their previous three games fell behind early and had to overcome second half double-digit deficits to win, got off to a quick start today. A three-pointer by Ashia McCalla capped off an 11-2 run and gave the hosts their largest lead of the game at 17-8 with 1:49 remaining in the opening quarter.
Morgan State held a 27-22 lead on a layup from Chelsea Mitchell with 6:22 left in the second period. That would be the Lady Bears' last points of the half, as MDES held Morgan State scoreless the rest of the second quarter, while scoring the final seven points to take a 29-27 halftime lead.
The teams traded baskets to start the third, until Morgan State used a mini 7-0 spurt to take a 40-37 lead with 4:48 left in the quarter, its last of the game. The Hawks went on a 19-5 run over the span of just under eight minutes to take its largest lead of the evening at 11 points (56-45) with seven minutes remaining in the contest.
Morgan State closed the gap to three points (58-55) on a three-pointer by Ja'Niah Henson with 3:16 left in the game. But that was as close as Morgan State would get. Jones scored the next two baskets for the Hawks to up the lead to 62-55, leading up to the final nine points for Maryland Eastern Shore all coming from the free throw line.
Mitchell led Morgan State with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and a game-high 16 rebounds to earn her 11th double-double of the season. McCalla tallied 14 points and Henson finished with 10 points.
Morgan State will close out its brief two-game homestand when it entertains the Eagles of North Carolina Central on Monday, Feb. 10 at 5:30 p.m. at Hill Field House. It will be the only regular season meeting between the two teams. The Eagles (7-15, 4-5 MEAC) were a 58-44 winner at Coppin State on Saturday.
