Morgan State’s women’s basketball shuffled lineups over winter break and started the year with a 3-4 deficit in conference play.
Their 64-49 win over Delaware State on Feb. 3 broke the Bear’s four-game losing streak, which now puts them in a three-way tie for fourth place in the MEAC. They are tied with UMES and North Carolina Central.
“You gotta try to stay positive and for coaches, sometimes that’s hard, but we’re not going to beat them down,” said head coach Ed Davis. “We gotta go back, look at film, fix what did not work, fix what you could have fixed and then fix what we got to make new stuff in order to make teams make adjustments.”
Within the last five games, redshirt sophomore Naya Ojukwu, a transfer from Gonzaga, made her debut with the Bears. She played her first game at Morgan on Jan. 4 against South Carolina State and her first start versus North Carolina Central Jan. 7.
Ojukwu has carved a role out for herself in the first five conference games as she is now the leading scorer on the team, averaging 16.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
“We really adapted to the best of our ability because they have been playing for the rest of the season. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be — just chemistry wise and figuring out the court and where I should really be,” said Ojukwu.
Although new to the public, Ojukwu has been practicing with the team all season and according to her teammates, the transition is smoother than she may believe.
Senior guard Laila Fair said, “Naya’s tradition into playing with us has been fairly smooth from my perspective … we do a lot better in terms of spacing. There [are] more gaps on the floor.”
As Ojukwu came into the lineup, the Bears’ original leading scorer was junior guard Ja’la Bannerman. Bannerman went down with injury when facing Presbyterian on Dec. 18 and made her return Jan. 25 against Coppin.
Coppin was also the first time both Bannerman and Ojukwu were on the court at the same time. Davis said his main concern is that their chemistry gets even better as the season goes along.
“It means a lot to have them together…so I’m just hoping we can figure out the best of both worlds where they can score and then get back on the other end,” said coach Davis.
In Bannerman’s absence other guards had to step up and take on her role — like freshman Michaela Bogans, who had a 20-point night versus North Carolina Central and Gabby Johnson who’s averaged 11.5 points per game since the beginning of MEAC play.
The lady Bears will be back in action Saturday, Feb.15 at 2 p.m. and have a chance to get back to .500 in conference play against South Carolina State in Orangeburg.