Lady Eagles net Sr. Day victory

March 04, 2008 03:01 pm

— MOREHEAD, Ky. - Senior guard Tarah Combs scored a game high 15 points as the Morehead State women's basketball team edged visiting Austin Peay 43-40 at Johnson Arena Saturday night.
The Eagles won their fourth straight game to end the regular season 11-18 and 9-11 in the conference. With the win and some tiebreakers cleared up, the Eagles learned they earned the sixth seed for the OVC Tournament and will face host and third-seeded Murray State, tonight, 6:30 p.m. eastern time in Murray.
This will be Morehead State's third straight appearance in the OVC postseason tournament. Last year, as the third seed, UT Martin upset the Eagles at home. In 2005-2006, MSU defeated APSU in Clarksville in the first round before falling to Tennessee Tech in the semifinals in Nashville, Tenn. MSU is 8-16 all-time in the tournament.
Combs and senior Anitha Smith-Williams were playing their final home games in Johnson Arena. Combs hit five three-pointers to give her 91 for the season and 232 for her career. Smith-Williams scored six points, had four rebounds and dished out three assists.
Both teams found the going tough shooting the ball. The Eagles held the Lady Govs to just 28 percent for the game (16-of-58). The Eagles didn't fare much better at 30 percent, but the Eagles outscored APSU 24-12 behind the arc.
Austin Peay was topped by Kellea Reeves with 11 points as they ended their season 6-23 and 3-17 in the league. April Thomas had 10 rebounds, and Ashley McGee dished out eight assists. McGee will end the regular season as the OVC leader in assists. Austin Peay also outrebounded the Eagles 45-36. Sophomore Brittany Pittman, who leads all OVC players in rebounds per game, pulled down nine for MSU.
Morehead State limited APSU to only 23 percent from the field in the first half and led 22-17. The second half saw MSU take two large leads but also saw APSU erase them each time. A Brandi Rayburn layup lifted the MSU advantage to nine (27-18) with 18:59 left in the game, but a 10-0 Lady Gov scoring run erased that lead and made it a 28-27 Lady Gov advantage with 11:59 left.
The Eagles moved the lead back out to nine (37-28) with a 10-0 run of their own. Smith-Williams' three-pointer at the 8:41 mark completed the run. The Eagles led 41-35 later on with 4:31 remaining, but once again, Austin Peay scratched its way back. An Ashley Herring three-pointer with 3:19 left brought her team to within 41-40, but that's the last field goal the visitors could get to fall. Neither team, actually, scored a field goal in the final 3:19, but two Rayburn free throws with six ticks left sealed the final 43-40 margin of victory.
The Lady Eagles hit the road in the OVC Tournament this week with a game at Murray State tonight. A win over the Racers will send MSU into the semifinals at Nashville this weekend.

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