Lady Eagles hang tough but fall to defending champ

January 29, 2008 04:20 pm

— CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Morehead State battled Ohio Valley Conference defending champion and second place Southeast Missouri to the final horn Thursday, but the host Redhawks used some timely 3-pointers and a 25-for-30 night at the free-throw line, including hitting 19-of-20 in the second half, to get past the Eagles 66-58 at the Show Me Center.
MSU fell to 7-12 and 5-6 in the league, while SEMO moved to 13-6 and 8-2 in the OVC.
The Eagles, the leading team in the league in field goal percentage defense, held the Redhawks to just 31 percent (17-of-55) shooting for the game. However, SEMO's athleticism and aggressiveness to the basket allowed it to draw 12 fouls on the Eagles in the final half.
Missy Whitney scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds for the hosts and hit all 11 of her free throws in the final 20 minutes. SEMO also got a key three-pointer from Tarina Nixon with less than three minutes left that pushed a four-point MSU deficit to seven. Nixon also had 22 points.
"I really thought we outplayed them, minus all the turnovers," said head coach Mike Bradbury. "We held the best team in the league to 30 percent shooting, but they just made shots. We missed three wide open shots when we ran our play perfectly, and we guard them to death and they still made two consecutive threes at the end of the shot clock. We did everything right tonight, but we just didn't win the game, and it's unfortunate. I am proud of our team."
Freshman Chynna Bozeman led three Eagles in double figures with 16 points, including four three-pointers. Bozeman also grabbed eight rebounds. Sophomore Brandi Rayburn netted 12 points, and sophomore Brittany Pittman tallied her seventh double-double with 10 points and 10 caroms off the glass. Pittman also recorded four blocked shots, and now has the OVC season record for rejections with 79. She broke Middle Tennessee State's Kay Willbanks' record of 77 that was set back in 1984-85.
Morehead State, which ranks tied for fourth in the nation in three-pointers, hit 10 treys on the night. The Eagles, however, were able to shot just 35 percent (17-of-49) for the game. MSU did out-rebound the Redhawks, 38-37. SEMO had 15 rebounds on the offensive side however, including three in the final 1:30 of the contest to limit MSU's chances of a rally.
The Eagles led for a majority of the first half, including by five twice. Nursing a five-point lead, 28-23 with 3:42 left, however, the Eagles saw SEMO rattle off a 7-0 run to take a 30-28 lead. The Redhawks ultimately led by just one though at the half, 31-30.
In the second half, SEMO moved ahead by a 42-36 count with 12:55 left after a trey by Rachel Blunt. The Eagles erased that lead though with a 7-0 run of its own. Pittman's layup capped the comeback at 10:54. The Eagles led 43-42, but another run by SEMO - this one 8-2 - pushed the momentum back to the hosts who led 50-45 with 8:56 remaining. The Eagles had the game back to a 55-53 SEMO lead with 4:56 left, but the hosts were resilient and held off any MSU threat.

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