BETHUNE-COOKMAN DEFEATS MORGAN STATE TO ADVANCE TO SEMIFINALS Sahar Abdur-Rashid 03/11/10 Winston-Salem, NC—March 11- Bethune-Cookman jumped out to a big early lead and then held off a furious rally to get by Morgan State, 63-52 in the quarterfinal round of the MEAC Basketball Tournament at the Joel Coliseum. The Lady Wildcats (17-14), the number six seed, advances to the semifinal round against Hampton, the Number 2 seed, at 2:30 pm on Friday. Bethune-Cookman parlayed the scoring of Demetria Frank (10 points) and Sarah Bolden (8 points) and some stifling defense on Corin Adams, the MEAC Player of the Year to take a 38-17 lead at the half. The talented senior guard faced double and triple teams on every possession and thus missed six of seven shots for only three points. As a team, The Lady Bears (17-13) missed 26 of 33 shots and turned the ball over 14 times. “Our game plan was to make sure that Corin did not get good looks,” said B-CU head coach Vanessa Inge, the MEAC Coach of the Year. “She is a great player and we knew that she is what makes Morgan State go. And we wanted to keep pressure on them.” Added Morgan State head coach Donald Beasley. “Bethune-Cookman came out and played aggressive basketball. “Tiny” (Adams) struggled the first half and it is no secret that as she goes, so do we.” The Lady Bears mounted a furious comeback on the scoring of Adams, who poured in 23 of her game-high 26 points in the second half. What was once a sizable margin was reduced to 49-43 with 5:34 remaining. The Lady Wildcats aided the comeback by missing several easy shots and 8-of-9 free throw attempts during a 19-8 Morgan State run. “You never want to mention the negative in a situation like that, so we tried to stay positive and stress hanging in there through the adversity,” said Coach Inge. “We had a little slump there for a moment but we have a goal of getting to the free throw line shooting 70 percent. I knew it was a matter of time before we would knock them down.” Bethune-Cookman was able to stave off the comeback as Sarah Bolden and Jasmine Bugg combined to hit 8-of-10 from the charity stripe down the stretch. “When you have to come from that far down, fatigue is a factor,” said Beasley. “We needed someone else to step up. Take your hat off to Bethune-Cookman. They did what they had to do.” Hampton and Bethune-Cookman split during the regular season. The Lady Pirates prevailed 81-44 at Hampton on January 23 but the Lady Wildcats snapped Hampton’s eight-game win streak with a 62-53 victory in Daytona Beach on February 20. “We have beaten everyone who is left in this tournament,” proclaimed Inge, in her second season at the helm. “In fact, the loss at Hampton was the turning point in our season. Sometimes you win when you lose. Since that game, we have had a different resolve.”