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COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—Tenessee Tech used its size advantage in the post to hold on to first place in the Ohio Valley Conference, defeating Morehead State women’s basketball 82-70 Saturday night at the Eblen Center.
TTU, whose only loss in the OVC this season was at Morehead State, held on to first place in the OVC at 11-1. MSU fell to 10-3 in the OVC and remained in second place. It was the ninth straight win for the Golden Eagles, which improved to 18-4 overall. MSU fell to 17-7 overall.
Brittany Darling, who created matchup problems for the Eagles in the low post, had a career-high in points (20) and rebounds (15) for the TTU. Darling scored 16 in the first half
Ashar Harris dominated early in first half, with eight points before the 10-minute mark, but Darling, who entered the game averaging 7.3 points per game, scored 16 points to eclipse her career high and spark TTU to a 20-4 run to close out the half. Darling, who stands 6-5, used her size advantage to score 12 points on six straight layups. MSU was held without a field goal for the final five minutes of the half.
Trailing by 10 at halftime, Tennessee Tech got the advantage as high as 19 before a late MSU rally cut it to eight, but four defensive stops by the Eagles did not result in points on the opposite side of the court.
TTU pushed its lead out to 19 on those two occasions, including 63-44 with 7:21 left. But, MSU senior Chynna Bozeman found the range from outside as MSU went on a 15-4 run to edge closer. With 3:56 left, the Eagles trailed just 67-59 following a Bozeman triple. MSU couldn’t quite complete the rally though proceeded to ice the game from the free throw line and on transition buckets. Bozeman’s final trey brought the Eagles to within 78-70 with 28 ticks left.
Bozeman led the Eagles with 29 points, including 24 in the second half. Her effort left her just 79 points short of Donna Murphy’s MSU career scoring record. She also moved into 10th place on the NCAA Division I career three-pointers made list with 337.
Harris finished with her 16th double-double of the year, scoring 15 points and securing 13 rebounds. Courtney Lumpkin notched 15 points and a team best five assists.
Besides Darling’s stat line, Tech got 18 points each from Taccarra Hayes and Molly Heady.
Morehead State returns home for its final two homes regular season games. The Eagles host Eastern Illinois Thursday at 5:15. That game will be Crazy Pants Night at Johnson Arena.
