Box Score
BALTIMORE, Md. – The Savannah State women's basketball team fell 50-68 to Morgan State Monday evening in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) matchup at Hill Field House in Baltimore, Maryland.

Leading the Lady Tigers in the loss was senior Erin Hogue, who recorded her sixth and third consecutive double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Jazmin Thomas and Jasmine Kirkland each added nine points. Bianca Jarrett led the Lady Bears with 19 points, followed by Tracey Carrington who scored 15. Chyress Lockhart added 11 points.

SSU falls to 6-11 overall and 1-3 in conference play, while Morgan State improves to 5-11 and 2-1 in the MEAC.

The Lady Tigers opened the game with a 3-0 advantage behind a good jump shot and free-throw from Charmaine Greene. Jarrett tied the game with a 3-pointer at the 17:36 mark.

Jasmine Norman tied the game again, at 7, three minutes later with layup. With 12:59 to play, Jazmin Thomas tied the game for the fifth time, at11, on a short jumper.

The Lady Bears opened a 10 point lead on SSU, 21-11, over the following three minutes as the Lady Tigers went 0-for-4 from the field.

Jazmin Thomas broke the scoring drought at 7:25 to spark some offense for the Lady Tigers. True freshman Jerryshia Williams sank a free-throw with 6:35 to play to help SSU within seven points of the Lady Bears lead.

In the waning minutes of the first half, Morgan State went on an 8-0 run for a 14 points advantage. Hogue drained a free-throw with 1:39 to play to set a 34-21 score into the locker room.

In the opening half, SSU shot at a 23.1 percent clip from the floor, but nailed 9-of-12 attempts (75.0 percent) from the charity strip. Morgan State shot 41.9 percent from the field and 71.4 from the free-throw line.

Trailing by 11 points in the opening minutes of the second period, Hogue finished a layup to cut Morgan State's lead to 9 points, 38-29.

Morgan State then put some distance between them and SSU with a 14-2 run culminating in a 23 point advantage, 56-33, with 8:27 to play.

SSU responded with their own 14-2 run that was led by seven points from Kirkland. With 4:49 to play, the Lady Tigers had cut the over 20-point Morgan State lead down to 11.

But the home team held on to its lead in the remaining minutes, despite a strong effort from the Lady Tigers. Hogue sealed up the final score with a layup at the 30 second mark.

SSU shot 30 percent from the field overall and 66.7 from the charity strip. The Lady Bears managed a 40.7 percent clip from the field and dropped 16-of-20 attempts (80.0 percent) from the free-throw line.

The Lady Tigers return to home court this coming Saturday, January 19, against Florida A&M. Tipoff in Tiger Arena is set for 4 p.m.

NOTES:
Erin Hogue was named MEAC Defensive Player of the Week this past week after leading the Lady Tigers to a 1-1 mark last week, scoring her fourth and fifth double-doubles of the season.

Hogue now leads the team in both points, 176 (11.0 avg), and rebounds, 140 (8.8 avg).

Jasmine Kirkland recently returned to action after missing five games with a concussion.  Monday's game was Kirkland's second best scoring game. She recorded 10 points against Norfolk State on December 1, 2012.

With Monday's win, Morgan State takes a 3-2 advantage in the overall series between the conference rivals.

SSU starting point guard, Ezinne Kalu, suffered an ACL tear in her right knee in the Dec.20 game against the University of Florida. Kalu had a highly successful surgery last week and has begun rehab, but will miss the rest of this season.