Women's Basketball

Boxscore

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Corin Adams missed the start of the game but it did not matter as she went on to score a team-high 23 points and lead Morgan State to a 57-48 win over Howard University in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's game at Burr Gymnasium.

Adams, a 5-7 senior guard and the second leading scorer in the MEAC, had to take an exam and got caught in traffic. That prevented her from starting the game.  It did not take her long to get the Lady Bears (5-8 overall, 2-0 in the MEAC) started.  She entered the game with her team trailing and promptly scored 11 of her points during a 10-minute span that gave Morgan State a 28-15 halftime lead.

The Lady Bison (5-8 overall, 1-1) had problems scoring, missing 25 of their 29 shots for a frigid 13 percent.  Howard's problems were compounded by the loss of Saadia Doyle, who picked up two fouls in the first three minutes and had to sit out most of the half and some cold shooting by team-leading scorer Zykia Brown, who missed all six of her shots from the field.

It is tough when one of your go-to players gets in foul trouble early," said Howard Coach Niki Reid Geckeler.  "It changed a lot of things we wanted to do early."

Added Doyle, a 5-11 red-shirt freshman and strong candidate for Rookie of the Year, "I think I was a little over aggressive in the beginning and then when I came back in, I became a little tentative with my play."

Howard staged a second half rally on the scoring of Brown and Doyle, who combined for 17 of their team's 33 second half points and got to within seven twice.  But Adams and Brittany Noel made sure that the Lady Bison would stage another one of their patented second half comebacks.

"We let them get into the one-and-one early and that helped them get back into the game," said Morgan State Coach Donald Beasley.  "The team feeds off Corin.  We knew coming in that they had two primary scorers and when Number 13 (Doyle) got in early foul trouble, I think it took away from some of the things they like to do."

Adams was 4 of 8 from the field in the second half while Noel connected on all of her shots for 9 of her 11 points after intermission.

"We made some mental errors on offense and that led to some mental breakdowns on defense," said Coach Geckeler.

Brown led Howard with 23 while Doyle tallied 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

NEXT UP:  Morgan State travels to Hampton, VA to take on the Lady Pirates of Hampton University on Monday at 5:30 pm while the Lady Bison will host Coppin State on Monday at 6 pm