ORLANDO, Fla. (Dec. 19, 2023)--Morgan State wrapped up its two-game road trip to the Sunshine State this afternoon with a non-conference contest against the University of Central Florida (UCF). The host Knights coming off their first loss of the season the day prior, defeated Morgan State, 67-41 on Tuesday at Additional Financial Arena. It was the first meeting between the two programs.
 
UCF, which concluded is non-conference schedule, improved to 9-1 with the win. Morgan State fell to 4-8 on the season. The Lady Bears were playing in the State of Florida for the first time since Jan. 11-13, 2020, when they earned a split against then Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) members Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman.
 
Morgan State scored the first points of the game on a jumper by Joelle Johnson, and the host Knights responded with an 11-0 spurt. The Lady Bears returned the favor with an 8-0 run, capped off by back-to-back three-pointers by Johnson to pull Morgan within a point at 11-10 with 45 seconds left in the quarter.
 
Trailing 13-10 at the start of the second quarter, the Lady Bears got a three-pointer by Kaia Ponder to tie the score at 17 all with 6:57 left in the first half. A three-pointer by Kaitlin Peterson put the hosts up 20-17 and triggered a 13-2 run by UCF to close out the period and take a 30-19 lead at the intermission.
 
Morgan State would not go away and used a 10-2 run in the third period to cut the deficit to 41-33, following a layup by Anyssia Gibbs at the 2:30 mark. UCF got a three-pointer from Laila Jewett, as the Knights closed out the quarter scoring the final six points to take a 47-33 advantage.
 
The Lady Bears got back-to-back baskets by Ponder and Emily Jones, bringing the visitors within 47-36 with 8:50 to play. UCF would then score the next six points in part of a 20-5 spurt to close out the game.
 
Johnson led Morgan State with 10 points and had three rebounds, two steals and a block. Tamaria Rumph came off the bench to also score 10 points, while recording a game-high six steals and a team-best four assists. Ponder came off the bench to add eight points and Jael Butler led the team with five rebounds to go with four points.
 
UCF was led by Peterson, who scored a game-high 20 points. Achol Akot pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, while Jewett tallied a game-high six assists to go with eight points. Mya Burns, Taylor Gibson and Khyala Ngodu each finished with eight points.

Morgan State, which had now dropped five of its last six games, will be off until Thursday, Dec. 28, when it resumes non-conference play with a trip to Corvallis, Oregon to face Oregon State.
 
 
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 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