BALTIMORE, MD—Morgan State's Lexus Spears and Braennan Farrar combined for 34 points as the Lady Bears defeated visiting NJIT, 55-43, in women's basketball non-conference action at Hill Field House Saturday afternoon.

Morgan State picked up its fifth win of the season, paced by Spears, who just missed registering a double-double with a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds.  The Lady Bears forward finished the game shooting 9-of-12 from the field.

Farrar scored 14 points and added five rebounds while Taylor Miller chipped in seven rebounds and four assists.

NJIT (0-8) were led by redshirt junior Tatianna Torres with 16 points followed by freshmen Ellyn Stoll, who posted 10 points.  Freshmen Dez Allen grabbed a team-best six rebounds.

The Highlanders, down six heading into the fourth quarter, 41-35, pulled within four, 43-39, of the home team on two occasions, the final after a jumper by Amarri Trueheart with less than six to play in the game.

Morgan State used a 12-2 run over the final 5:30 to secure its fifth win of the season, 55-43.

NJIT took control early in the first quarter with a 13-7 lead, paced by Torres with five points.

Amarri Trueheart scored the first five points and Torres a bucket for NJIT in the second quarter, holding a 20-13 lead at the 7:00 mark.  Morgan State scored nine consecutive points, taking its first lead of the game, 22-20, with 3:18 remaining. The Lady Bears Lexus Spears scored four of the nine points in the run for Morgan State.  NJIT closed out the quarter on a short 3-1 run and down one, 23-24, heading into halftime.

Torres led the Highlanders with eight points at the half while Lexus Spears paced the Lady Bears with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field.

The Lady Bears used a 15-6 spurt to open the third quarter and extended its lead to six, 39-29, at the 2:35 mark.  Stoll broke the Lady Bears run, knocking down a jumper at the 2:15 mark and followed up with a three-pointer with two minutes left to play in the quarter, pulling within seven, 34-41.

NJIT will return to action on December 6 at Lehigh.  Tipoff is slated for 11am.  Wednesday will mark the 12^th all-time meeting between the two teams with Lehigh leading the all-time series, 11-0.