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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Senior guard Linda Dixon scored a team-high 20 points, and junior forward Ashar Harris recorded her seventh double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds as the Morehead State women’s basketball team concluded an Ohio Valley Conference road swing with a 68-52 victory at Jacksonville State Monday afternoon.
The Eagles improve to 6-10 overall and 3-1 in the OVC, while JSU dropped its ninth straight game to fall to 3-15 and 0-5 in the league.
Harris was held to just two points in the first half but erupted for 17 markers and 11 rebounds in the final half. Dixon scored 12 of her 20 in the final half. The Eagles also out-rebounded the hosts 21-19 in the final half and limited JSU to 31 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes when they outscored the Gamecocks 41-24.
“I thought both ends of the floor for us meshed together today,” said MSU Head Coach Tom Hodges. “We played with high energy on offense and made them work to defend us, and we played good defense I thought and wore them down in the second half. We talked a lot about rebounding at halftime (MSU trailed 26-14 in rebounds in the opening half) and I thought Ashar, Casey (Ryans) and Mackenzie (Arledge) all rebounded much better in the second half.”
Ryans added a career-high nine points and three steals. The Eagles forced 27 JSU mistakes and had a 21-9 advantage in points via turnovers. Senior guard Courtney Lumpkin chipped in 11 points as well. MSU hit 15-of-19 from the free throw line too.
Danielle Vaughn had a team-high 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for the hosts.
The Eagles had leads of 12-7, 23-18 and 27-22 in the opening half, but the Gamecocks ended the half on a 6-0 run to take a 28-27 lead. JSU outscored the Eagles 22-10 in point paints.
MSU had just a one-point lead (31-30) with 16:30 left in the game, but Lumpkin ignited a 10-0 run that effectively put the game out of reach. The Eagles went on to lead by as much as 17 late in the contest.
MSU finished the day with a 35 percent shooting efficiency, while JSU hit 36 percent.
Morehead State returns home this weekend to host Eastern Kentucky on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. ET. The game has been dubbed the “Gold Rush” contest. Details about promotions and giveaways are available on www.MSUEAGLES.com.
