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NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Second-seeded Morehead State women’s basketball couldn’t buy a basket late in the second half, losing 78-71 to third-seeded Austin Peay Friday afternoon in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinals at Bridgestone Arena.
The Lady Govs took advantage of outside shooting woes by the Eagles and held a nine-rebound advantage, scoring 36 points in the paint. MSU fired up 42 shots from three, but hit just 26.2 percent of those. Only 4-of-14 attempts from long range fell in the final six minutes of the game.
The Eagles had trailed most of first half, but opened the second half on a 12-0 run, five of which came from
Chynna Bozeman who had 15 at the half and 20 points less than three minutes in the second half. MSU took the lead on a 3-pointer by
Tiffanie Stephens and got the lead as high as four on a lay-up by
Deja Watson at the end of the run.
“Once we got up four, we had three plays to extend the lead and we didn’t do it,” MSU coach
Mike Bradbury said. “We played hard enough to win, our effort was there.”
APSU re-took the lead on a traditional three-point play by Ashley Herring with 15:12 left. The teams traded buckets until a 6-0 Austin Peay run with just under 10 minutes to play put the Lady Govs up by nine. MSU closed back to within five on a triple by
Tiffany Hamilton with six minutes left, but the Eagles never got closer down the stretch.
Bozeman, who averaged 30.5 points against the Lady Govs in the regular season, sunk five 3-pointers and finished with 27 points, four assists and four steals. Her five threes moved her into ninth place in the NCAA all time in single-season performances Hamilton had 14 and Stephens scored 12 points. Watson led the Eagles with 11 rebounds.
The Eagles struggled to score early in the first half, trailing by as much as 10 before a 7-2 run spurred by 15 first-half points by Bozeman closed the gap to within one. A series of miscues flipped the advantage back to the Lady Govs, who extended the lead to eight at halftime. MSU shot 35.3 percent from the field and struggled from long range in the first half, hitting just three of its 13 attempts for 23.1 percent. In the first two meetings, Morehead State was 27-of-50 from long range against APSU.
“This wasn’t our best performance and it's disappointing it comes on this day,” Bradbury said. “Give Austin Peay credit, they were a big part of that, they were outstanding today.”
APSU was led by Herring and Jasmine Rayner who scored 21 and 20 points respectively. Rayner had a double-double with 11 boards as did Nicole Jamen, who finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Whitney Hanley added 16 points for the Lady Govs.
The Eagles fall to 22-10 overall. Should Eastern Illinois win Saturday in the OVC title match, the Eagles will earn the league’s automatic berth into the Women’s NIT.