Game 29
Morgan State "Lady Bears" (15-13, 11-4 MEAC) vs. Norfolk State "Spartans" (18-10, 12-3 MEAC)
Date: Thursday, March 5, 2020
Site: Baltimore, Md. (Hill Field House)
Tip-off: 5:30 p.m.
Series Record: Norfolk State leads, 23-16
Gameday: Here
TV: N/A
Audio: HSRN.com
Watch: Here
Live Stats: www.MorganStateBears.com
Website: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.nsuspartans.com
Game Notes: Morgan State | Norfolk State | MEAC
 
BALTIMORE, Md. (March 4, 2020)- The Morgan State women's basketball team will close out the regular season this Thursday, March 5 against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) foe, Norfolk State. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. at Hill Field House with the winner earning the No. 2 seed for next week's MEAC Tournament in Norfolk, Va. The game will be carried live on the Heritage Sports Radio Network at HSRN.com. A win by the Lady Bears will give them a season split with Norfolk State and a share as the league's regular season runner-up. It would also give Morgan State a 10-1 mark at home, while providing career coaching victory No. 400 for MSU head coach Ed Davis, Jr.
 
BEAR CLAWS: The Lady Bears (15-13, 11-4 MEAC), winners of three straight, are coming off a 68-42 victory over cross town rival Coppin State last Saturday. Dahnye Redd scored a game-high 18 points and Chelsea Mitchell added 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting to lead Morgan State. Redd and Mitchell each pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, falling one shy of recording their sixth and 14th double-doubles, respectively, this season. Jihayah Chavis scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds, had two assists and recorded a game-high four steals. The Lady Bears have been led by Mitchell, who is nearly averaging a double-double with 15.2 points and 9.9 boards per game. Redd is scoring 12.9 points and pulling down 7.6 rebounds per contest, while Ashia McCalla is adding 11.9 points per game. Morgan State is averaging 62.9 points per contest and is giving up 58.2 per outing to opponents.
 
MORGAN VS. NORFOLK SERIES NOTES: Norfolk State leads the all-time series, 23-16. The Spartans won the first meeting this season, 64-57 in Norfolk, Va. (2/15).
 
SPARTAN LEGION: Norfolk State (18-10, 12-3 MEAC), winners of two straight and three of its last four games, is coming off a 68-57 road victory at Delaware State on Monday. Chanette Hicks scored a game-high 22 points, Mikaela Jones added 14 points and La'Deja James scored 12 in the win. Jones and James each grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Shekinah Howard came off the bench to score 10 points. Hicks leads the Spartans in scoring (20.4), assists (127) and steals (127) and is pulling down 4.7 rebounds per game. James is averaging 14.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest. Blaire Thomas is adding 9.6 points and leads the team with 6.3 rebounds a game.
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will enter next week's MEAC Tournament (March 10-14) as high as the No. 2 seed or as low as the No. 4 seed, depending on tonight's outcome. The Lady Bears, who are tied for third with North Carolina A&T, hold the tiebreaker over the Lady Aggies due to their 42-38 home victory in Baltimore (Jan. 20). Morgan State dropped its first meeting against the Spartans, 64-57 in Norfolk, Va. (Feb. 15).
 
DAVIS ONE SHY OF VICTORY NO. 400: MSU head coach Ed Davis Jr. picked up his 399th all-time career coaching victory and 50th at Morgan State, following the Lady Bears' win over crosstown rival Coppin State (2/29). Davis, who is in his eighth season with the Lady Bears and fourth as the head coach, has guided his teams to a total of four NCAA Tournament appearances, while at Bowie State (3) and at Delaware State (1) and two Division II Sweet 16 appearances.
 
MEAC NO. 2 SEED UP FOR GRABS: Thursday's game will be for a chance to finish as the MEAC's regular season runner-up and earn the No. 2 seed in the MEAC Tournament next week at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. If the Lady Bears defeat the Norfolk State Spartans, they will accomplish both feats, something that hasn't happened since the 2010-11 campaign. That year the second-seeded Lady Bears fell to Howard in the MEAC semifinals, but had already secured the program's first-ever postseason bid on the Division I level when top-seeded Hampton went on to win the MEAC Tournament crown, thus Morgan State received the MEAC's automatic bid to the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). Morgan would fall Virginia, in the first round of the WNIT, 69-56 (3/17/11), in what is still the only Division I postseason appearance for the Lady Bears' program.
 
SAYING GOODBYE: Morgan State will say goodbye to three seniors at the conclusion of the season. Four-year member Jihayah Chavis, three-year member Chelsea Mitchell along with Dezyree Morales, who came to MSU a year ago as a junior, will be honored prior to tonight's final home game for 'Senior Night' against the Norfolk State Spartans at Hill Field House.
 
MORGAN SWEEPS "EAST VS. WEST" SERIES: Morgan State wrapped up the annual "East vs. West" season series with a 68-42 victory over rivalry Coppin State (2/29) in the 85th installment of the battle. It marked the second consecutive year Morgan State won both regular season contests. Earlier in the season Morgan State went over to Coppin and won 47-42 on Jan. 25. The Lady Bears have won five straight regular season match-ups and six out of the last seven meetings against their rivals.
 
MARYLAND'S FINEST: Out of all the leading rebounders of the eight Division I women's basketball programs in the State of Maryland, MSU's Chelsea Mitchell ranks first with 9.9 rebounds per contest. A native of Columbia, Md., she has led the team in rebounding 19 times this season, including a season-best 17 rebounds against Delaware State (2/24). She was held without a rebound in the loss at Bethune-Cookman (1/13), which marked the only time this season she failed to grab a rebound.
 
Rk. Name, School                                       Rebounds
1.   Chelsea Mitchell, Morgan State                       9.9
2.   Chance Graham, Coppin State                           9.3
3.   Stephanie Karcz, Loyola-Maryland                     9.3
4.   Nukiya Mayo, Towson                                         7.9
5.   Kaila Charles, Maryland                                      7.7
6.   Jen Gast, UMBC                                                 7.3
7.   Morgan Taylor, Navy                                           5.0
8.   Bairesha Gill-Miles, Maryland Eastern Shore     4.5
 
MITCHELL RANKS 4TH/7TH NATIONALLY IN STEALS: Chelsea Mitchell currently ranks fourth in the nation in total steals (103) and is seventh in steals per game (3.68). She leads the Lady Bears in steals this season and has 182 for her career.
 
CHAVIS CLOSING IN ON FIFTH IN CAREER ASSISTS: Jihayah Chavis, who has recorded 280 assists for her career, is seven assists away of moving into fifth all-time on the Morgan State charts. The Newark, N.J. native who currently sits in seventh-place, needs six assists to pass Tracy Lewis (285 assists from 1989-93), who sits in fifth and tie Kaira Warfield (286 assists from 1993-97) for fifth.
 
GIPSON MAKES DEBUT: Senior forward Dawn Gipson made her long awaited debut as a Lady Bear when she checked into Monday's Delaware State game with 3:25 left in the first quarter. Gipson, who has battled through injuries, wasted no time, as four seconds later she scored her first points of her Morgan State career, when she went baseline for a reverse layup. The Jacksonville, Fla. native finished with six points on 3-for-3 shooting, collected two steals and had a block in 12 minutes of action.
 
MAKE IT A DOUBLE: Chelsea Mitchell picked up her team– and MEAC-leading 13th double-double of the season in the win over Delaware State (2/24). Mitchell scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds.
 
PROTECTING THE 'HOUSE': Morgan State enters tonight's contest with a 9-1 record at Hill Field House this season and has won 10 of its last 11 home games dating back to a 70-47 win over Coppin State in the season finale last year. The Lady Bears' 9-1 record is the program's best home court mark since the 2017-18 team finished 10-3. 
 
THIRD QUARTER DOMINANCE: Morgan State has outscored its opponents in the third quarter by a whopping 88 points (478-390). In the win over Howard (2/1), the Lady Bears limited Howard to just three points in the third period.
 
CHAVIS MOVES INTO FIFTH ON STEALS CHART: Senior Jihayah Chavis totaled two steals against North Carolina Central (2/10) to give her 210 steals for her career and move past Monique Liddell (208 from 1996-00) for fifth. She currently has 212 career steals.
 
MITCHELL MOVES INTO EIGHTH ON STEALS CHART: Chelsea Mitchell tallied a game-high five steals in the loss at Norfolk State (2/15) to give her 178 steals for her career and mover her past Lisa Mickens (174 steals from 1997-01) for eighth all-time at Morgan State. She currently has 182 career steals.
 
RUN ENDS AT FIVE: Morgan State's season-long five-game winning streak came to an end, following a 71-61 loss at home to Maryland Eastern Shore (2/8). It's the first five-game winning streak for the program since 2016-17. 
 
STREAK ENDERS: When the Lady Bears defeated North Carolina A&T, 42-38 at Hill Field House (1/20), the win put an end to the Lady Aggies' 28-game regular season winning streak over MEAC opposition. It would not be the first time that the women's basketball program was responsible for ending a lengthy MEAC winning streak. During the 2007 MEAC Tournament (3/9), Morgan State came-from-behind to defeat defending champion Coppin State, 69-67 in overtime in the semifinal round. The win ended a 14-game losing slide to Coppin State, as well as put to rest a 49-game winning streak against MEAC opponents by the Eagles.
 
MORGAN PICKED SEVENTH IN MEAC: Morgan State was picked to finish seventh in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) preseason poll, as voted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Last year, the Lady Bears were picked to finish sixth, and went 10-21 overall and finished 8-8 in the MEAC to finish sixth.
  
2020 MEAC TOURNAMENT: The 2020 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men's and women's basketball tournament is scheduled for March 9-14 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. Ticket books can be purchased at all 12 MEAC university ticket offices, the Norfolk Scope Arena, Ticketmaster outlets, the MEAC Administrative Office and online at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available by calling the MEAC at 757-951-2055 or Ticketmaster at (800)-745-3000. The annual MEAC Basketball Tournament moved to Norfolk in 2013 after spending the previous four years in Winston-Salem, N.C. from 2009 through 2012.