(Dover, Del.) – The Delaware State women's basketball team (7-19, 2-12 MEAC) could not find its rhythm throughout Monday evening's MEAC contest at home, as the visiting Morgan State Bears (4-22, 4-11 MEAC) came away with a 65-54 victory.

For DSU, it was their sixth loss in the last seven games, while the Bears picked up their second straight win after dropping 15 in a row.  Additionally, the Hornets were without their starting point guard, Jade Washington, who was sidelined for the first time this season because of a hamstring injury.    

In the first half,  Delaware State built a five-point lead on three different occasions with the last occurring at the 10:15 mark after forward Tylinn Carter scored in the paint to make it a 21-16 ball game.

However, the Bears scored seven of the next nine points, capped off by a Danielle Robinson three to knot the game at 23 with 7:24 left before halftime.  After Robinson's three, MSU tacked on seven more unanswered points, concluded by a Ivy Harrington steal and finish on a fast break to take a 30-23 lead. As a result, head coach Tamika Louis was forced to call a 20-second timeout.

The rest of the stanza, the Bears led by as many as eight and took a 36-29 lead into the locker room. Offensively, DSU shot 46 percent (12-of-26), while guard Raven Bankston went 3-for-8 (.375) from the floor for eight points. Earlier in the day, Bankston was named MEAC Player of the Week for the second time this season.

For Morgan State, guard Tracey Carrington led all scorers with 10 points (2-of-7) and went a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, whereas the team shot 41 percent (14-of-34) from the field.

After intermission, the Bears took their first double digit lead (41-29) after a Danielle Forrest three, but Carter answered with a three of her own with 17:17 left on the clock. 

Nevertheless, Robinson drained another to push MSU's lead back to 12 at the 16:22 mark, as the Hornets failed to cut the deficit under 10 until a Carter jumper made it a 56-48 contest with 3:37 left in regulation.

Trailing by 10 again with 1:30 to play, the Hornets made things a bit interesting when Carter found guard Diamond Williams for a deuce, preceded by a 30-second timeout called by Louis.

Unfortunately for the Lady Hornets, Carrington drained six consecutive free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach, as Delaware State failed to get within 10.

At game's end, the Bears shot 41 percent (24-of-58) from the field with four players scoring in double figures, led by Carrington tallying 20 points (5-of-12) and a team-high four assists.  Harrington, meanwhile, scored 18 points (8-of-18) off the bench, whereas starter Simone Sampson dropped 10 points (5-of-7) and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

In the case of Delaware State, it struggled to shoot just 31 percent (9-of-29) in the second half to finish the evening at 38 percent (21-of-55).  Bankston, who scored 30 points or more in her last two games, tallied 20 points (8-of-19), four rebounds, four assists and two blocks.  Carter was the only other Hornet to score in double figures with 15 points (7-of-15), to go along with a team-high nine rebounds.

Coming up, the Lady Hornets will face the Howard Bison in their final home game of the season this Saturday (2 p.m.).  Earlier in the year, DSU fell on the road, 70-64.