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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State junior point guard Courtney Lumpkin did what she does best.
In a tie game with Tennessee State with less than 10 seconds left Thursday night, Lumpkin raced the length of the court and kissed a high shot off the glass and through the net with two seconds left to give the Eagles an 84-82 victory over the Lady Tigers in Johnson Arena.
Lumpkin's layup offset a layup by Kim Haynes with six seconds left that tied it and nearly forced overtime. Haynes hit two layups in the final 15 seconds, but Lumpkin had added a free throw before Haynes' second bucket, making the margin two and setting the stage for Haynes' game-tyer and Lumpkin's game winner.
After leading by as much as 10 in the final half, MSU found itself in a battle to the finish with the visiting Lady Tigers, but Lumpkin’s heroics lifted MSU to 15-6 on the year and 8-2 in the OVC. TSU fell to 5-15 and 2-8 despite nailing 11 3-pointers on 23 attempts. TSU also scored nearly 30 points more than its season average of 56.
Lumpkin finished with 21 points. Chynna Bozeman led the Eagles with 28 points and also had eight rebounds. Ashar Harris, who was limited to just one point and two rebounds at the half, concluded with her 14th double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds). Linda Dixon also finished with her second career double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds).
TSU got a team-high 24 points from Tayla Foster, while Kesi Hess tallied 14 and Destiney Gaston produced 12.
The teams traded buckets in the early going until a 10-2 MSU run gave the hosts an 18-10 lead with 10:26 left. Bozeman broke an eight-all stalemate with a triple, and Harris capped the run with a free throw.
The Eagles led by 10, 34-24, at the 2:35 mark, but Hess buried a couple of treys to bring the Lady Tigers back to within 34-32. Bozeman got a layup to fall with 33 ticks left to set the final first half margin at 36-32.
Both teams had the hot hand shooting in the first half. The Eagles fired at a 45 percent rate, while the visitors shot 43 percent in the opening half.
The Lady Tigers pushed ahead by three (47-44) with 15:08 left in the second frame, but a Bozeman jumper with 14:20 left sparked a 13-4 Eagle run. Dixon capped the flurry with a layup at the 11:49 mark to give the Eagles a 57-50 advantage. TSU cut it back to four, but MSU would pulled back ahead by 10 (65-55) with 8:22 left.
Tennessee State did not go away quietly as they used dead-eye three-point shooting to get back into it. Foster drained all four of her triples in the last part of the second half, and the Lady Tigers actually took a 78-77 lead on Foster’s fourth triple with 1:08 left.
MSU shot 43 percent for the game (29-of-67), while TSU hit 47 percent. The Eagles grabbed two more boards, leading the rebounding battle 39-37.
The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday when they host Austin Peay. The game will tip off at 5:07 p.m. and be shown live on Wazoo Sports Network.
