BOX SCORE (HTML) | BOX SCORE (PDF)
PHOTO GALLERY (By Guy Huffman) | REPLAY OF GAME BROADCAST
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay senior Whitney Hanley scored 38 points, and Nicole Olszewski hit the eventual go-ahead free throw with 12 seconds left in the second extra period Wednesday as the Morehead State women’s basketball team saw its 2011-12 season come to an end with an 84-83 double overtime setback to the Lady Govs in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Municipal Auditorium.
Morehead State, which saw its 15-point second-half lead wiped away in the final 10 minutes, finished the year at 10-19. APSU moves into the second round, improving to 9-21. It was the second overtime contest the teams had played in the last two weeks as APSU defeated MSU 88-81 in extras in Clarksville on Feb. 18.
Hanley sank a pair of free throws with five seconds left in regulation to effectively send the contest to the first overtime. She then scored 11 of her team’s 13 points in the initial extra frame. But, MSU senior Linda Dixon, who finished with 21 points in her last collegiate game, drained a three-pointer from the top of the key with 1.8 ticks left to force another five minutes of action.
Hanley scored seven points in the second overtime, and MSU senior Courtney Lumpkin also recorded seven in the second overtime. She hit a layup at the 36-second mark to tie the game at 83. Dixon was hit with her fifth foul with five seconds left, and Olszewski hit the front end of a two-shot situation. MSU sophomore Terrice Robinson’s running floater from the left side misfired at time expired.
The Eagles led 54-39 with 9:41 left in regulation following a Lumpkin three-pointer, but the Lady Govs went on an 18-5 run over the next six minutes to creep to within two (59-57) with 3:16 left on the clock. MSU held a 61-59 lead with 19 seconds left, but Dixon, who sustained a shoulder injury late in the second half but played through it, wasn’t able to connect on a pair of free throws. Hanley drove to the basket as time ran down and drew the foul on Dixon to set up the game-tying free throws.
Lumpkin finished her final career game with a team-best 22 points and concluded her career with 1,475 points to rank 10th in MSU history. She also finished with 491 career assists to rank second in school history. Dixon, who scored just 10 points her first two years as MSU, finished with 738 career markers and 122 career three-pointers to rank 11th in school history.
Junior forward Ashar Harris helped MSU win the rebound battle, 44-39, with a game-high 14 boards. She concluded her third collegiate season with 361 rebounds and upped her career total to 1,029. Freshman Almesha Jones came within one of her career-high point total, scoring 16. She also had a team-high six assists. Robinson scored 11 and tied her career high with six rebounds.
Leslie Martinez netted 11 points for the Lady Govs, while Kaitlyn Hill and Kristen Stainback each totaled 10. Hanley, who played all 50 minutes, added seven rebounds and four assists to her stat line.
The Eagles jumped out to a 37-28 lead behind a 58 percent (15-of-26) field goal efficiency in the first half, but the Eagles were limited to just 26 percent (8-of-31) in the second frame. MSU shot 7-of-13 in the overtimes, but the Lady Govs hit 73 percent (8-of-11).
