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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Visiting Eastern Illinois held Morehead State without a field goal for seven minutes in the second half Thursday night, but the hosts hit their shots when it counted as the Eagle women’s basketball team rallied to defeat the Panthers 59-57 at Johnson Arena.
MSU improved to 10-17 overall and to 7-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference. EIU dropped its second straight league game and dipped to 21-7 overall and 12-3 in the league.
Mackenzie Arledge’s uncontested layup with 10:14 left in the game gave MSU a 47-42 cushion, but the Panthers went on a 16-3 run over the next seven-minute span to push ahead 56-50. MSU didn’t hit a field in the EIU scoring flurry. But, senior guard Courtney Lumpkin knocked down a jumper, and freshman guard Almesha Jones canned a three-pointer from the corner to cut it back to a one-point game at 56-55 with 2:42 left.
EIU’s Sydney Mitchell hit the back end of a two-shot free throw opportunity to make it 57-55 with 1:56 left. But, that’s the final point the Panthers scored.
Lumpkin hit a free throw, and Jones then drove to the bucket and laid in a shot with 53 seconds left to give MSU the lead back at 58-57. Harris drew a charge on the EIU offensive end and hit one of two free throws. Kelcey Wyss misfired on a potential game-winning triple from the left corner as time expired.
Harris led four Eagle players in double figures with 14 points and also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Lumpkin tallied 13 points and a team-best five assists, and Jones and senior guard Linda Dixon scored 11 each.
Mitchell and Mariah King had 12 each to pace the visitors, and Chantelle Pressley notched 10 markers. The Eagles held the Panthers to just 1-of-9 from three-point range as they split the season series.
The teams battled to a stalemate for a majority of the first half. A Terrice Robinson lay-in gave the Eagles their first lead (19-18) with 8:30 left. Dixon drained a three-pointer at the 1:18 mark to give the hosts their largest first-half advantage at 31-26, a score that stuck at halftime.
Both teams finished with 42 percent field accuracy, and MSU forced the Panthers into 19 turnovers.
MSU closes the regular season on Saturday hosting SIU Edwardsville at 5:15 p.m. ET.
