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MIAMI, Fla. – Sophomore
Ashar Harris scored 22 points and pulled down 20 rebounds, her third double-double of the year and the third 20-rebound game in her career, but host Florida International shot 59 percent and forced 24 Morehead State turnovers as the Golden Panthers knocked off MSU 78-65 Friday night at U.S. Century Bank Arena in the opening game of the FIU Thanksgiving Classic.
Harris, who played the entire 40 minutes – a career high for minutes played – hauled in nine offensive rebounds and 11 on the defensive glass as she helped the Eagles out-rebound the hosts 44-31.
Chynna Bozeman led the Eagles with 23 points, including 16 in the second half, and five steals. Bozeman hit five three-pointers.
Courtney Lumpkin also reached double figures again with 10 points.
“I told the team there comes a time when you don’t need to take shots you can make, you need to take shots you can’t miss,” said coach
Tom Hodges. “I thought several of our long threes we missed led to too many transition baskets for them. I think Ashar really got involved early in the second half, but even though you look at her stats, I still feel like we needed to go to her more. Our offense affected our defense as well. We just could not get over the hump and play defense without fouling. But, you know that’s what this team needs, they need a little adversity, so we’ll get back in the gym and work on the things we need to improve.”
FIU shot 55 percent in the first half and used a 12-0 run to end the first 20 minutes to push ahead for good. In the second half, the Golden Panthers were even more efficient, hitting 64 percent (14-of-22), mostly on transition or fast break opportunities. Three FIU players finished in double figures, led by Michelle Gonzalez’s 17 points and seven assists. Finda Mansare shot 7-of-8 from the floor and scored 16, while Jerica Coley tallied 14.
The Eagles trailed only 26-21 late in the first half, but the Panthers held the Eagles scoreless for the final 3:48 and converted five buckets and a pair of free throws to lead 38-21 heading to the locker room.
The Panthers held a double digit lead the entire second half. The Eagles came as close as 12 points (75-63) on a Lumpkin layup with 35 ticks remaining
MSU did not shoot the ball particularly well, hitting on just 32 percent (21-of-65), including 7-of-32 from three-point range. MSU did shoot free throws much better. Coming into the weekend as a 55 percent charity stripe shooting squad, the Eagles converted 16 of 22 for 73 percent. MSU also did a solid job forcing FIU mistakes as the Golden Panthers turned the ball over 20 times leading to 12 MSU steals. The Eagles lead the Ohio Valley Conference in steals.
The Eagles will have Saturday off in Miami and return to U.S. Century Bank Arena on Sunday at 2 p.m. to face Western Michigan in the tournament consolation game.
