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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Senior forward Eriel McKee posted her second consecutive double-double and 17^th of her career Monday night, and the Morehead State women's basketball nearly erased a 17-point second-half deficit before absorbing a 68-60 setback to Gardner-Webb in the Matthew Mitchell Classic at Johnson Arena Monday night.
 
Morehead State (1-1) trailed 60-46 with 7:51 remaining but held the visitors scoreless for more than five minutes and used a 12-0 run to make it interesting.
 
McKee, the Lawrenceville, Ky., native scored 13 and grabbed 11 rebounds. Junior forward Tierra McGowan notched 16 rebounds for the second straight game and netted eight points. McGowan, a junior college transfer, again grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and equaled her feat from the season opener. She now has 32 rebounds in 42 minutes on the court at the Division I level.
 
"We didn't do a great job in a lot of areas tonight," said head coach Greg Todd. "But give Gardner-Webb credit, they have a lot of skilled players returning. I didn't feel like we were as mentally sharp today. We did do a nice job in the fourth quarter, and we played extremely hard in the end. We just needed more of that for the rest of the game."
 
Junior guard Miranda Crockett led the Eagles with 18 points after a 17-point effort Saturday.
 
The tide turned midway through the first quarter when the Eagles led 18-17. However, Morehead State missed its last seven field goals in the period, and GW (2-1) ended on a 9-0 run to lead 26-18 after one.
 
The Runnin' Bulldogs pushed their cushion out to 13 (33-20) with 2:45 left before halftime, and the Eagles trailed 39-28 after 20 minutes.
 
Gardner-Webb led by as much as 17 (53-36) with 3:48 left in the third quarter.
 
Alexus Hill and Tierra Huntsman paced the Runnin' Bulldogs with 18 points each. Huntsman corralled eight rebounds.
 
Morehead State held a 45-33 rebounding edge and now owns a +37 rebounding margin in the first two games. The Eagles turned the ball over 16 times, and Gardner-Webb turned that into a 22-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
The Eagles continue the Matthew Mitchell Classic on Wednesday with an 11 a.m. ET game against Brescia (Ky.).