Jan. 24, 2011

Box Score

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - Casey Morton (Mardela Springs, Md.) scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed five steals and Chelsea Sanders (Rochester, N.Y.) added 14 points and three rebounds as the University of Maryland Eastern Shore women's basketball team won its fourth straight MEAC game and fifth in the last seven overall with a 64-56 decision over Morgan State at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center Monday.

Morton was 7-for-15 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range to record her fourth 20-point game of the season and help UMES (7-12, 4-2 MEAC) to its sixth win in the last seven games over MSU. The loss for Morgan State (10-8, 4-2) snapped a three-game winning streak.

The win also marked the first time since the 2008-09 season UMES has won four consecutive MEAC games.

The Lady Hawks now lead the all-time series with the Lady Bears, 36-28. Morgan State ran out to a quick 12-3 advantage in 3:30, capped by four points by Moneshia Davis. UMES rallied with a 10-0 spurt to take a 13-12 lead with 13:43 remaining.

Morton ignited the run with a 3-pointer and closed it with another to give UMES its first advantage of the night.

Kayla Rollins hit a layup with 12:43 to play and Adobi Agbasi (Columbus, Ga.) responded with a strong move in the paint to reclaim a 15-14 edge for UMES with 11 minutes left.

UMES led, 17-14, when Morgan State made a small four-point run to take the lead on a Rollins layup midway through the half but UMES scored five straight, highlighted by a Sha-Kiyla Finney (Portsmouth, Va.) layup on the break to earn a 22-18 advantage with 8:14 remaining.

The Lady Hawks carried that momentum and a 32-27 margin into halftime.

Morton paced UMES, which shot 46.2 percent (12-for-26) in the period, with 11 points. Morton opened the second half with a trey and then added a layup on the next possession to extend the lead to 37-27in the first two minutes.

With UMES leading, 43-33, the Lady Bears made a run, cutting the deficit to four on consecutive 3-pointers by Brittany Noel and Erin Hawkins before baskets by Bria Jackson (Rochester, N.Y.) and Agbasi restored a 47-39 lead with 11 minutes remaining. From there, Morgan State engineered a 12-4 run to knot the game, 51-51, with 6:10 remaining. Rollins led the way in the five-minute stretch with eight points, including the layup that pulled MSU even.

Morton gave her team the lead with a fastbreak bucket at the 4:34 mark but Noel tied the game again on the next possession.

Sanders completed a three-point play to move UMES in front, 56-53, with 3:50 to play before a Hawkins long ball made it 56-56 with less than three minutes left.

That, though, was the Lady Bears' last basket as Sanders and Agbasi hit layups and Sanders knocked down four from the line in the final moments.

UMES shot 48 percent in the second half, making 12-of-25 attempts to finish the game at 47.1 percent (24-for-51). Morgan State was held to 39.6 percent shooting (21-of-53) on the night.

The Lady Hawks created 23 Morgan State turnovers for 29 points and shot a season-high 84.6 percent (11-for-13) from the foul line.

Agbasi chipped in with eight points, a season-best five blocks and three rebounds while Finney had five points, five steals and two assists.

Rollins had 14 points off the bench for MSU and Theresa Davis went for 13.

UMES travels to Howard Saturday. Tip-off at Burr Gymnasium is 2 p.m.