Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Morgan State
Balanced Offense, Stifling Defense Key in @HerdWBB Win
11/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Box Score (PDF)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall women's basketball team improved to 5-1 with a 62-43 win over Morgan State (1-5) Wednesday afternoon at the Cam Henderson Center.
Sophomore Khadaija Brooks and redshirt junior Taylor Porter led the Herd with 13 points apiece. The 13 points is a career-high for Brooks. Redshirt senior Talequia Hamilton and sophomore Shayna Gore added nine points each and senior Kiana Evans had eight. Redshirt junior McKenzie Akers had six points on a pair of three-pointers and moved into sole possession of 10th place on Marshall's all-time list with 93 career made three-pointers. Evans led all players with eight rebounds and three assists. Hamilton tallied six boards. Brooks and freshman Ashley Saintigene had five rebounds apiece. Saintigene also tallied three blocks. The Herd defense held Morgan State to a shooting percentage of 27.8 (15-of-54) and forced five shot clock violations.
Morgan State opened the game on a 5-0 run. The Herd responded with a 7-2 run to tie the game at seven with 6:43 remaining in the first quarter. Porter, Hamilton and Evans combined to score all seven points during the Herd run. After Morgan State took a 9-7 lead on a pair of Tykyrah Williams free throws, the Herd scored seven straight to take a 14-9 lead. The Herd held the Lady Bears to just 26.7 percent from the floor in the first quarter and held a 17-11 lead.
Morgan State opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 17-17 with 5:52 to go before halftime. The Herd did not score until a free throw by Porter put Marshall back on top, 18-17, with 5:42 left in the quarter. The free throw started a 14-4 Herd run to end the half. Marshall made its first basket of the quarter with 1:53 left before halftime when Porter hit her second three-pointer of the game. Akers hit a three-pointer on the Herd's next possession to increase Marshall's lead to 28-19 with 1:05 remaining in the half. After Jayde Duncan made a layup for Morgan State to cut Marshall's lead to 28-21, Porter buried her third three-pointer of the half, beating the buzzer to send Marshall into the break with a 31-21 lead.
Both teams started the second half cold, as neither team hit a shot in the first two minutes of the third quarter. A three-pointer by Brooks at the 7:47 mark represented the first points of the half for either side, giving the Herd a 34-21 lead. After Morgan State cut the Herd lead to 38-25, Gore hit a three-pointer with 5:27 left in the third to extend Marshall's lead to 16 points. A three-pointer by Evans and free throws by Gore and Hamilton gave the Herd its first 20-point lead of the game, 48-28. The Herd took a 49-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
Morgan State opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer by Chelsea Mitchell and a layup by Taylor Miller, cutting the Herd lead to 51-34 with 9:07 remaining in the contest. A layup by Brooks and a three-pointer by Gore increased Marshall's lead to 22 points, its largest of the contest, with 6:17 to go in the game. The Herd did not make another basket until a Hamilton layup with just under two minutes left in the game increased Marshall's lead to 59-38. A three-pointer by Akers with 20 seconds to go in the contest gave Marshall a 62-43 lead, which ended up being the final score of the game.
COACH'S CORNER
Head Coach Matt Daniel
Opening statement:
People were telling me it was a tale of two halves. I don't agree with that; I think we shared the ball in the second half a lot better than we did in the first half. If you go in there and try and make a play by yourself and it doesn't go your way and you look frustrated or shrug your shoulders you're still selfish. I thought we were a lot better defensively in second half as a team."
On the rebounding and defensive effort:
Yes, it helped us. We won another game on the glass. I thought they got too many offensive rebounds at the half. I challenged our players at half time to keep their players off the glass and I think they did just that. We were much better after the first half."
#GreatnessAwaits
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UP NEXT
Marshall goes back on the road with trips to Penn State (Dec. 3) and North Carolina (Dec. 7). Tipoff from Penn State is 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. at UNC.
