Box Score ORANGEBURG, SC -- Tracey Flowers tossed in a career-high 22 points and Paris Alston added 15 to lead South Carolina State to an 84-71 win over Morgan State Saturday in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference contest at S-H-M Memorial Center.

Tiara Knotts added 13 points, Kourtney Williams came off the bench for 12 and Tiana Hemphill, the backup center, chipped in 11 and a game-high 13 rebounds in the victory, which lifted the Lady Bulldogs to 7-7 overall and 2-1 in the MEAC.

Morgan State was paced by Amarah Williams with 16 points,Omara Parker 15 and Dekeisha Mathis 12. Moneshia Davis had a team-high seven rebounds to go with four points in the loss, which dropped the Lady Bears to 2-11 overall and 0-1 in the league.

SC State, which won its fourth contest in five outings, following a 3-6 start, led 43-35 at the half behind nine first-period points by Flowers. The host increased its margin to 18, at 76-58, on a 3-pointer by Williams with 6:04 remaining and held off a charge by the Lady Bears, who came to within eight points – 77-69 – when Parker canned a layup with 2:51 on the clock.

Coach Doug Robertson's Lady Bulldogs regrouped as Flowers got inside for a layup off a feed by Knotts, then added three straight free throws to push the margin to 82-69 with 1:34 left on the clock. Williams got a layup for the Lady Bears to close the gap to 82-71 with 1:19 left Knotts closed out the scoring with a layup in the final seconds for the 84-71 final.

The 7-7 start is the best ever after 14 games at SC State for Robertson who is in his fourth season as Lady Bulldog head coach. The 2-1 MEAC start is the second-best for Robertson, whose 2010-11 won its first two MEAC contests before dropping nine straight to league competition.

Robertson was happy with Saturday's victory, the second in as many outings for his team.
“I'm obviously pleased to get the win,” the Lady Bulldog coach said. “We executed our game plan pretty well for most of the game. We built a nice lead and when they made their run down the stretch, we responded, something we haven't always done.

“In the past, when we let teams back in the game, we tended to get down on ourselves and lose our intensity. This time, we didn't give up and I think that's a sign of maturity. We have put in a lot of hard work and are beginning to see some success.”

SC State will resume its schedule on Monday when the Lady Bulldogs host Coppin State in the first game of an MEAC doubleheader beginning at 5:30 p.m.
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