Published: February 12, 2008 02:48 pm         

MSU women drop pair of OVC games

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State nearly erased as much as a 14-point second half deficit Thursday night, but visiting Southeast Missouri held on to claim a 50-48 win over the host Eagles at Johnson Arena. The Eagles fell to 7-15 and 5-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference, while the Redhawks stayed in first place in the league race with a 16-5 record and an 11-2 OVC ledger.

Southeast Missouri, which played without leading scorer Missy Whitney, got a team high 19 points from guard Tarina Nixon. Sonya Daugherty registered 13 points and six steals, including a held-ball steal with less than a second left that forced MSU to go without a game-tying shot attempt.

Freshman Chynna Bozeman led the Eagles with 19 points, including four three-pointers. She also had four assists and three steals while playing all 40 minutes. Senior Tarah Combs netted 15 points, hitting five treys as the Eagles drilled 10 trifectas on the night. Brittany Pittman tallied nine points, had eight rebounds, and blocked six shots. SEMO was just 2-of-19 from beyond the three-point arc, but the Redhawks made up for it by collecting 44 rebounds and 19 offensive rebounds. SEMO had a 44-31 edge on the glass as Chrysta Glenn pulled down a game high 14. 

The Eagles shot out the gate early and built a 19-10 lead with 5:10 left in the first half. But, SEMO didn't fall apart and put together a 10-3 run to end the half trailing 22-20.

The Eagles had a 25-24 lead with 17:04 to go in the game, but the Redhawks went on a 20-5 run, capped by a Nixon free throw at 9:05, to build their biggest lead of the night (44-30). MSU actually had cut the lead back to 32-30 with 12:10 left, but SEMO scored the nest 12 points to build what it thought was an insured lead.

However, MSU rallied back with three treys down the stretch. The last one by Combs made it a 50-48 game with 53 seconds left. A missed free throw by Nixon gave the Eagles a chance, but SEMO 's defense was too tough. MSU was not able to get a shot off in the last 14 seconds.



Slow Start Dooms Eagle Women in Four-Point Loss to Murray State

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Visiting Murray State opened the game on a 19-0 run, and then held off a determined Morehead State women's basketball team Saturday, 56-52, at Johnson Arena. The Eagles, who nearly erased as much as a 20-point deficit in the first half and a 13-point disadvantage in the final half, fell to 7-16 and 5-9 in the OVC. Murray State improved to 16-7 and 10-5 in the league.

By the 14:32 mark of the first half, Murray State was on top 19-0. Morehead State missed its first 10 shots. The Racers led 22-2 for their largest lead of the first half at 13:40. The Eagles were able to outscore the Racers 14-6 over the next five minutes to cut it to 28-16, but Murray State ultimately led 40-26 at the half, shooting 52 percent for the first 20 minutes.

Ashley Hayes and Angela Brown led the visitors with 15 points each, while Alaina Lee produced 10 points. Morehead State was led by senior guard Tarah Combs with 16 points. Freshman Chynna Bozeman had her first career double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds while also adding six assists. Sophomore Brittany Pittman picked up her eighth double-double with 12 points and 11 boards. Anitha Smith-Williams handed out seven assists.

Just as cold as Morehead State was to open the game, Murray State opened the second half making one of their first 17 shots. The Eagles put together a 7-0 run to cut the margin to 40-34 with 16:10 left, and the Eagles actually got the margin all the way down to three points (42-39) with nine minutes remaining.

The Eagles' lowest deficit came with just more than two minutes left as they cut it to two points (48-46), but MSU could not convert on the offensive end and watched as the Racers ran the game back out to as much as seven points.

For the game, Murray State shot 39 percent (23-of-59), while MSU shot 35 percent (19-of-54). The Eagles did hold a 42-32 advantage in rebounding but had 17 turnovers.