BOX SCORE (HTML) | BOX SCORE (PDF) | REPLAY OF GAME BROADCAST
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Senior guard Courtney Lumpkin scored a career-high 32 points, and the Morehead State women’s basketball team shot a season-high 57 percent from three-point range as the Eagles snapped a five-game losing skid by holding on to defeat host SIU Edwardsville 73-70 Monday night at the Vadalabene Center.
Lumpkin was 11-of-22 from the field, 3-of-4 from long range, and 7-of-11 at the free throw line to lead MSU (8-15/5-6 OVC). Lumpkin added a team-best five assists as well while playing all 40 minutes.
“I’m so very, very proud of our young ladies,” said MSU Head Coach Tom Hodges. “We carried our energy over from our setback in Charleston [Ill.] the other night. Things didn’t really go our way in the second half, but things aren’t supposed to go your way when you’re on the road. But, we beat a great basketball team that has beaten a lot of good teams in this arena.”
The Cougars (14-9/8-4 OVC) got team-highs of 26 points and 12 rebounds from junior center Raven Berry, but the hosts could not hold on to as much as a six-point second-half lead and ended their four-game winning streak.
The Eagles got a career-high tying 14 points from freshman Almesha Jones, plus 15 points and five assists from senior guard Linda Dixon, who hit 3-of-5 from three-point land. Junior forward Ashar Harris came off the bench for the first time since her freshman season, but the nation’s leading rebounder still grabbed a game-high 13 boards in 34 minutes.
“Courtney and Linda made play after play, and I’m really proud of Ashar. We changed our lineup up a little to maybe get Ashar a little charged up, and man-oh-man, she responded,” said Hodges.
Despite only making 15 of 28 free throws, the Eagles connected on eight of their 14 three-point shots and forced 18 SIUE turnovers while shooting a season-high 46 percent from the field overall. MSU hit on a 50 percent clip (12-of-24) from the floor in the final half. The Eagles also forced the Cougars into just a 2-for-16 effort from beyond the three-point arc.
MSU built a 34-28 halftime lead, but Berry scored nine of her team’s first 11 points in the opening three minutes of the final half as SIUE went on an 11-1 run to lead 39-35.
The Cougars still maintained a 51-45 lead following a Tierny Austin bucket at 9:47, but a Lumpkin trey ignited a 15-2 Eagle scoring flurry. Dixon capped the run at 3:34 with a three-pointer, and MSU led 60-53.
MSU led by as much as eight (68-60) in the final minute, but the Cougars’ full-court defense wreaked havoc, and MSU saw the hosts battle back to cut it to two twice in the waning moments. Lumpkin hit three of her final four free throws in the last 18 seconds, including a final charity toss at the eight-second mark that effectively sealed the win. Berry’s 50-foot heave at the final horn sailed wide left.
MSU shot 43 percent in the first half and built as much as an 11-point lead at 27-16. Lumpkin scored 14 in the opening half and tossed in 18 in the second.
The Eagles will travel to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, Feb. 11 for a 4 p.m. ET game at McBrayer Arena.
