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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Freshman Allie Turner made a game-winning layup with 0.7 seconds left to lift Morehead State women’s basketball to a 65-64 Ohio Valley Conference win over Jacksonville State Thursday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
After Brittany Wiley made a layup to put JSU up by one with 4.5 seconds left, Chynna Bozeman’s inbound pass went to Ashar Harris midway up the lane. Harris dumped the ball to Turner, who scored on the layup and was fouled. She missed the ensuing free throw, but JSU’s desperation toss was nowhere near the basket.
Morehead State avenged a one-point overtime loss at home to the Gamecocks earlier this season. Turner, who missed a free throw in that game that would have made the difference, got poetic justice Thursday.
The win is the 17th by the Eagles this year, making MSU bench boss Tom Hodges the winningest first-year coach in Morehead State history. MSU is 17-6 overall and 10-2 in the OVC and JSU falls to 8-15 overall and 5-7 in the OVC.
Bozeman, the reigning OVC Player of the Week, led MSU with 22 points. She had four assists and five steals. Harris had her 15th double-double of the season, scoring 20 points and 13 rebounds. Courtney Lumpkin dished out a team-high five assists. Turner finished with 14 points, including three triples and the game-winner.
JSU dominated the post play in the first half, leading for most of the half, thanks to 14 points and seven rebounds by Danielle Vaughn. All of Vaughn’s points came in the paint, resulting in 26 of the Gamecocks’ 32 first-half points coming in the low post. Morehead State countered by forcing nine JSU turnovers on seven first-half steals to score 11 points off turnovers.
After MSU took an early one-point lead on a layup by Harris, Jacksonville State reeled off seven straight, five of which came from Destiny Lane on a 3-pointer and a layup. The Eagles quickly cut that lead down to one thanks to baskets by Lumpkin and Bozeman. JSU got the lead back up to five on a couple of occasions, but a pair of layups by Harris in the final three minutes and a triple by Turner with four seconds left gave MSU a 34-32 halftime lead.
The Eagles held a small lead throughout the first part of the second half, but a 13-4 JSU erased MSU’s biggest second period lead of five. MSU led 44-39 at the 12:03 mark after a Bozeman layup, but the hosts outscored the visitors 13-4 to push ahead 52-48 at the 7:41 mark. Quick buckets by Harris and Lumpkin tied the contest again, and the Eagles proceeded to pull out in front 61-56 with 4:08 left.
A 5-0 Gamecock run erased the Eagles’ advantage. Bozeman hit a pair of free throws before Brittany Manning hit one of two charity tosses to make it a 63-62 Eagle lead. JSU stopped MSU on its next possession, and Wiley drained a 10-footer in the paint to give the Gamecocks a 64-63 lead with 4.5 seconds left.
Vaughn led the Gamecocks with 22 points and Beneby had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Wiley and Lane each had 12. Four different JSU players had three assists.
Jacksonville State out-rebounded MSU 45-35, resulting in 16 second-chance points, but the Eagles forced 19 turnovers for 20 points off of those takeaways, countering the JSU advantage in the paint.
Morehead State next plays at league-leading Tennessee Tech Saturday. Tip-off for that game will be at 6:30 p.m. Eastern.
