Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State women’s basketball got career high efforts from
Channing Hillman,
Allie Turner and
Linda Dixon and forced 40 turnovers as the Eagles cruised past Houston Baptist, 71-50, Saturday at Johnson Arena on the second day of the Comfort Inn and Suites Classic.
The Eagles evened their 2010-011 mark to 2-2 while the Huskies fell to 0-4.
The Eagles conclude the three-day tournament on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. when they face Norfolk State. The Spartans are 2-0 in the event and won in the last two seconds, 70-69, in an overtime game over Central Arkansas in Saturday’s first contest. The women's game can be hard live on
WKCA FM 97.7.
Hillman came within just a few more assists, steals and rebounds from accomplishing a quadruple-double. She led the team with career highs of 16 points, eight rebounds, six assists and six steals. Dixon scored a career high 11, while Turner came off the bench to sink a quartet of treys and finished with a career best 12 points.
The Eagles’ tenacious defense forced the 40 Husky mistakes as the Eagles came up with a season high 22 steals. While not reaching double figures in points, senior
Chynna Bozeman came away with five steals. The Eagles only turned the ball over 12 times and turned all the Husky miscues into a 36-10 advantage in points via turnovers. The Eagles also held advantages in points in the paint (40-26) and second chance points (16-4) despite being out-rebounded by HBU, 48-29.
Jamie Spriggs had a game high 20 points off the bench to pace HBU. Destini Texada tallied 11 before fouling out with a minute left.
The Huskies shot the ball well, managing to hit on 44 percent of their shots from the floor, but the Eagles had a decisive advantage in made buckets from three-point range. A night after draining 10 triples, MSU notched nine three-balls on 31 attempts tonight. HBU was only 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.
The Eagles raced out to a 6-0 lead, sparked by a game-opening three-pointer by Dixon, and never trailed. HBU cut the Eagle lead to 11-6 with 12:17 left in the first half, but a 6-0 run had MSU back out ahead 17-6 with 9:01 left after an Ashar Harris lay-in. The Huskies trimmed the margin down again to 17-12 but MSU went on a 14-0 scoring flurry, highlighted by three straight Hillman buckets to start the run, to push their lead out to 31-12. The Eagles went the locker room with a 34-18 halftime lead as they forced 23 first half turnovers.
The second half turned into a foul-fest, but the Eagles’ lead was never in doubt despite being whistled for 14 fouls. MSU’s largest advantage came with 9:13 left as Bozeman dropped in a jumper to give her team a 25-point lead at 54-29. HBU never came within less than 18 the rest of the way.
The Eagles finished with a 40 percent shooting total (29-of73) but only hit 4-of-13 from the free throw line. MSU did collect 19 assists in the contest, led by
Courtney Lumpkin with a season high seven.
