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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Host Morehead State forced 29 Robert Morris turnovers, and junior
Ashar Harris led four players in double figures with team-highs of 16 points and 13 rebounds as the Eagle women’s basketball team edged the visiting Colonials 75-69 Sunday at Johnson Arena.
MSU improved to 3-8, while Robert Morris – which entered the game ranked 25th in the women’s mid-major poll, fell to 7-3.
The Eagles looked to have the game in hand, leading 70-57 with 3:08 left following a
Linda Dixon jumper. But, that’s the final field goal the Eagles sank. RMU threw up a stingy full court defense and forced six Eagle backcourt turnovers in the final three minutes, trimming MSU’s advantage down to four (71-67) with 18 seconds left. A technical foul on RMU for out-of-bounds interference allowed freshman guard #Natalie Greenwell to sink a pair of free throws, and sophomore guard
Terrice Robinson closed the Eagles’ scoring with two free tosses with 10 ticks left following a steal at half court by Dixon.
“I thought we played very inspired for 39 minutes today,” said Head Coach
Tom Hodges. “The last minute or so we kind of lost our way, but I take responsibility for that. Overall though I was extremely proud of our effort and defensive intensity.”
Harris collected her fourth double-double of the year while shooting 8-of-15 from the field. Dixon had 11 points and a career-high seven steals, Greenwell chipped in 11 points, and sophomore
Tyler Ituen matched her career-best with 11 points. Senior guard
Courtney Lumpkin handed out a season-high seven assists and moved to fifth in career assists at MSU with 432. Freshman forward Makenzie Arledge netted career-highs of six points, four rebounds and four steals.
The Eagles finished with team season-highs of 20 assists and 17 steals. MSU generated a 32-22 advantage in points off turnovers.
“We’re always going to be fueled by turnover margin,” said Hodges. “Because of our size, we can’t get trapped in a half-court game too much. We had 22 more shots, and that’s because we turned them over 29 times. Makenzie getting out and denying, Linda and Tyler getting out there, that was huge. Linda’s steal there at the end was so important for us to get out of that end of the court.”
Robert Morris forwards Artemis Spanou and April Williams led the Colonials with 15 points apiece. Mary Durojaye had 13 points and nine rebounds.
MSU shot 39 percent for the game, hitting 27 of its 69 attempts. The Colonials took 47 shots, hitting 23 of them for 49 percent. RMU won a close battle of rebounds, 38-36. Nine of Harris’ game-high rebounds were on the offensive end.
The Eagles also connected on 11 three-pointers with Dixon, Ituen and Greenwell combining for nine treys.
MSU opened up a close game in the first half with an 11-3 run. The teams were deadlocked at 11 before Dixon ignited the rally with a three-pointer. Arledge drained a three-ball with 9:36 left in the opening half to make it a 23-14 Eagle lead. Robert Morris cut the MSU lead down to two twice before the Eagles went to the break holding a 41-35 cushion.
Robert Morris had the Eagle lead again down to two, at 50-48, with 10:15 left in the game, but a 16-6 run pushed the MSU margin out to 12 (66-54) with 5:10 left. Ituen rattled in a three-pointer to cap the flurry.
In the final three minutes, MSU was only able to take two field goal attempts, but the Eagles were 5-of-7 from the free throw stripe.
Morehead State travels to Johnson City, Tenn., on Tuesday night to face East Tennessee State at 7 p.m.
