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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Morehead State simply could not slow down Tennessee State’s Jasmin Shuler Thursday night.
Shuler scored a career-high 38 points, and the host Lady Tigers erased an 11-point second half lead for the MSU women’s basketball team as TSU forced overtime and then outscored the Eagles 10-4 in the extra period to win an 86-80 Ohio Valley Conference game at the Gentry Center.
MSU fell to 7-11 overall and 4-2 in the OVC, while TSU upped its mark to 7-12 overall and 3-4 in the league.
The Eagles also received a career-high effort. Senior guard Linda Dixon tallied 27 points to establish a new career single-game best. She also had eight rebounds, three blocked shots, two assists and two steals. Junior forward Ashar Harris notched her eighth double-double of the year with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Harris upped her career rebound total to 892 and moved into fifth place on the school career chart. Senior guard Courtney Lumpkin scored 19 points.
But it was Shuler who stole the show. She hit 14-of-23 from the field and 5-of-9 from three-point range, netting 19 in the first half and 16 in the second 20-minute period. Avery Jones scored 12, and Kesi Hess added 10. The Lady Tigers blistered the nets at a 51 percent clip for the night (32-of-63).
“I’ll continue to say it that Linda Dixon is the greatest defender in the OVC, and for Shuler to get 38 against her, hats off to Shuler," said MSU Head Coach Tom Hodges. "Every one of those shots, Linda was in her face and she chased her sideline to sideline, but wow, I don’t know what else we could have done.”
The Eagles hit nine three-pointers and outscored the Lady Tigers 21-15 at the free throw line, but MSU also hit only 32 percent of its field goal attempts (25-of-77). The Eagles could not find the bottom of the net either in overtime, going 0-of-6.
Trailing 39-32 at the half, the Eagles opened the second stanza on a 17-2 run to push ahead 49-41 with 15:12 left. MSU held TSU without a successful second-half field goal until Hess nailed a three-pointer at the 13:23 mark to cut into MSU’s 11-point advantage.
“I thought we played really hard to erase their halftime lead and take a big lead of our own,” said Hodges. “It’s just very frustrating when you can’t come up with the rebounds you need to close out a game like this. We let this one slip away.”
TSU held a 51-44 rebounding edge and corralled two offensive rebounds in the final 30 seconds of overtime to prevent an MSU offensive possession.
The Eagles forced 26 turnovers and had advantages in points via turnovers (31-21), second-chance points (20-14) and fast-break scores (13-8) but could close the deal in the final half. The Eagles still led by eight (71-63) with 4:54 left but TSU ended regulation on a 14-5 run to force overtime.
Kim Haynes knocked down a trey with 47 ticks left in regulation to tie the contest at 76. Lumpkin misfired on a three-pointer at the 33-second mark, but Dixon skied for the offensive rebound to set up a final shot opportunity for the visitors. Lumpkin, who hit a game-winning layup as time expired in the last meeting with TSU, split the perimeter defense and launched a 15-footer that rimmed out. Shuler grabbed the rebound, but Harris stripped the ball and tried to force up a last second try. She never got it off though as Destiney Gaston knocked the ball away before she could get a shot off.
Shuler and Hess combined to score the first seven points in overtime, and the Eagles never cut it closer than four in the final five-minute session.
Morehead State returns home to host defending OVC Tournament champion UT Martin on Monday. Tipoff time is set for 6 p.m. ET.
