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HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – Morehead State women’s basketball led wire-to-wire and broke an eight-game losing streak to regional rival Marshall Tuesday afternoon as the Eagles topped the Thundering Herd 61-50 at the Cam Henderson Center.
MSU raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first four minutes and pulled away late in the game after the Herd trimmed its lead to 47-44 with six minutes left. The Eagles shot well in the first half (44 percent) and won despite hitting just 23 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes.
MSU’s defense was a big factor in the victory as the Eagles forced 20 Marshall turnovers and turned that into a 20 points off of the Herd miscues. The Eagle offense also committed just 11 turnovers, nine below their season average.
“I thought we played with sureness when we had the ball,” said coach Tom Hodges. “I felt like our offense propelled us in the first half and our defense and poise helped us in the second half. This is a big road win.”
MSU’s victory was its first against Marshall on the Herd’s home court since the 2001-02 season. In all, Marshall had won 11 of the last 12 meetings between the teams.
Senior Chynna Bozeman became Morehead State’s career steals leader in the process. She had three swipes to give her 199 and propel her past B.J. Bradford’s 198. She also scored 14 points, including 11 in the first half, as she moved into second place in career scoring at MSU (past Donna Stephens) now with 1,714 points.
Ashar Harris was hampered by foul trouble, picking up three in the first half, but she still managed to collect her ninth double-double and third in a row with a team high 15 points and 11 rebounds. Harris had seven rebounds alone in the second half as the Eagles finished with a 43-36 advantage overall on the glass.
Courtney Lumpkin reached double figures for the eighth consecutive game with 13 points. Hodges and staff shifted the starting lineup, giving freshman Allie Turner her first career starting nod. She responded with six points in a career-high 33 minutes. Linda Dixon scored eight and pulled down seven rebounds, and Channing Hillman came off the bench to provide eight boards and also a clutch three-pointer with 4:25 left that gave the Eagles back a double digit lead.
Marshall, which played with just seven players dressed due to travel issues related to the northeast snowstorm, was led by Tynikki Crook with 14 points and seven rebounds.
The Eagles led by as much as 11 (13-2) before the hosts cut the lead down to just one (20-19) with 8:45 left in the first half. A Dixon jumper with 8:20 left ignited a 17-5 end-of-half run that held Marshall to just two field goals during that span and put MSU up 37-24 at the break.
In the second half, MSU was leading 45-35 at the 8:23 mark, but Crook scored five of the next eight Marshall points in an 8-2 run that had the Herd within three, 47-44, with 6:14 left. Lumpkin and Harris scored buckets and Hillman nailed a trey at the 4:25 mark and the Eagles pushed their lead back out to 10. The hosts never cut it lower than eight in the final four minutes.
MSU finished with a 33 percent field goal efficiency, but led in paint points (28-24), points off turnovers (20-6) and second-chance points (21-9). The second chance points came from 22 offensive rebounds. MSU also had 12 steals to hit its nationally-ranked season average.
The Eagles will be back at home on Sunday afternoon to host Longwood in the first game of a women’s-men’s doubleheader. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
