BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 16, 2023)--Amari Smith came off the bench to score a game-high 14 points and Anyssia Gibbs also came off the bench to score 11 points, as the Lady Bears defeated Notre Dame of Maryland, 75-32, in a non-conference game at Hill Field House on Thursday morning.
 
Morgan State improved to 2-1 on the season, while Notre Dame of Maryland remained at 1-3.
 
The game, which was an exhibition for Notre Dame of Maryland and does not count towards its record, was also Morgan State's Youth Education Day "Building Bridges – Pathways to Education" event. Elementary students from various Baltimore City schools were in attendance to help cheer the Lady Bears to victory.
 
"The atmosphere in Hill Field House was full of electricity," said Sterling Steward, Senior Associate Athletics Director/Chief Revenue Officer, who along with M. Burton Cornish, Jr., Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development, came up with the vision for the event. "We had more than 600 third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade students. Many of them this was their first time being on a college campus." 
 
The youth were greeted by Morgan State mascot Benny the Bear and received a brief history of The National Treasure by student-athletes and Early Education majors. They were also taught the Bear Chant and Bear Dance.
 
"I just want them to absorb the environment. Sports is a major asset in our life and if we can use sports to get them to understand what colleges are and what a part of college is and that education is important."
 
It was the second Education Day event of this year. The inaugural Education Day was held earlier during the volleyball season when Morgan State hosted Bowie State (Sept. 19).
 
Thursday the Lady Bears forced the visiting Gators into 31 turnovers with 24 coming by way of steals. Gabrielle Johnson led the charge with a game-high five thefts to go with eight points and a game-high six assists. Kaia Ponder (eight points, six boards) tallied four steals, four assists and had a game-high three blocks, while Sedayjha Payne also recorded four steals to go with her eight points and five rebounds.
 
The Lady Bears, who led from start to finish, jumped out to an 11-2 advantage on a layup by Joelle Johnson with 5:39 to play in the opening period and held a 22-9 lead after a quarter of play. Morgan would take a 42-22 lead at the intermission.
 
A three-pointer by Smith with 1:49 left in the third period capped off a 17-4 run, as Morgan increased its lead to 59-26. The hosts, which held Notre Dame of Maryland to a total of 10 points in the second half, closed out the game outscoring the Gators, 14-4 in the fourth for the 75-32 win.
 
Morgan State would shoot 46 percent (29-of-63) for the game and connected on 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) from the free throw line. Notre Dame of Maryland was 11-of-46 from the floor (23.9 percent) and shot 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from the free throw line.
 
"I feel like our energy as a team we kind of all lift each other up and pushed each other so our team had our back," said Smith.
 
According to Gibbs, as the season continues the team wants to make sure that they rely on its defense, regardless of who they are playing.
 
Smith added, "I think it's important to keep pressure on teams and keep our momentum going. We are a defensive team, so we have to keep our principles and keep defending."
 
The Gators were paced by Amani Watts, who had a team-high six points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds to go with two steals and an assist. Hillary Howard and Alexis Jones each added six points in the loss.
 
The Lady Bears will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 18, when they host Davidson at 2 p.m. at Hill Field House. It will be the fourth and final game of the current home stand before the team takes to the road against some top Division I schools in the country.
 
"We have to play better with the last home game because we're playing against teams that have beaten us last year," said Morgan State head coach Edward Davis. "This same team [Davidson] was very strong in their conference." 
 
"Our opponents are going to be now against Power 5. We don't have a lot of 50/50 games," said Davis. "When we go to Puerto Rico, our whole objective is to win one game. We have never won down there. We've played tuff, but never won."
 
 
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution offering more than 100 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.