The Lady Bears had not played a game in nine days, in which they lost to Bethune Cookman University to end a three game winning streak. After coming out shaky against Howard University, Morgan State eradicated their early issues to beat the Lady Bison, 78-66.
“We had to feel ourselves in a game situation,” said head coach Donald Beasley. “You can practice all you want, but it’s not a game.”
Photo by Terry Wright.
Howard held a 17-10 lead in the first quarter, the largest lead they would have in the contest. In the second, however, the Lady Bears went on a 15-3 run that was jumpstarted by two consecutive three-point shots from junior Danielle Robinson and ended the half ahead 35-30.
Sophomore Breannan, the team’s leading scorer with 14.7 per game going into the afternoon, struggled to find her shot in the first half, going 1-10. Nonetheless, the Lady Bears were able to find a groove behind sophomore Zuri White’s 10 first half points and Robinson’s eight. “It’s a team game,” said Robinson. “If one of our players is down, we got her back, we’re gonna pick her up.”
Howard regained the lead in the third quarter, holding a 57-53 advantage after senior Imani Bailey was fouled with less than a second on the clock and converted the free throws. “Our defense completely collapsed and we weren’t covering what we knew we should have been covering,” said senior Dinah Jones.
Photo by Terry Wright
That lead did not last after Farrar began to find her shot, making two early-clock three-pointers to tie the game at 61. The tying three was part of a 12-0 run for the Lady Bears, which included four free-throws after a post-foul altercation resulted in Jones and Howard players receiving technical fouls. Howard would get no closer than within five points for the rest of the game before Morgan emerged victorious.
“We learned how to get to the free-throw line,” said Beasley in regards to the team’s recent success. “In every game we’ve won, we shoot 20 free throws.” The Lady Bears were 23-25 from the line against Howard. He also said that having more players with the ability to score outside of Farrar has helped, as White lead the team with 22 points and sophomore Lexus Spears posted 14.
The Lady Bears are now 6-2 in the MEAC and 7-12 overall, and will play Coppin State at home on Monday.
