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MOREHEAD, Ky. – For the first time in the New Year, Morehead State women's basketball returns to the court for Ohio Valley Conference play, hosting OVC foe Tennessee Tech Thursday at Johnson Arena.

The Eagles enter the game following a Dec. 19 meeting with Bowling Green which saw sophomore Ariel Kirkwood and redshirt sophomore Gabby Crawford each record a double-double. Kirkwood led all Eagle scorers with 17 points while pulling down a career-best 16 rebounds while Crawford added 15 points and 10 boards.

The game also saw Morehead State out-block its opponent for the sixth time in six games this season, rejecting 10 Falcon shots. As a team, Morehead State ranks sixth in the nation in total blocks, leading the country with an average of 8.7 blocks per game. Kirkwood—who led the Eagles with five blocks versus Bowling Green—ranks sixth in the NCAA in total blocks while her 4.0 blocks per game rank second in the nation.

Morehead State also enters Thursday's game as the only team in the OVC to have four players ranked in the top-10 in the conference in blocks per game, as Kirkwood (first), Crawford (fifth), redshirt sophomore Lauren Carter (sixth), and junior Ellie Jo Johnson (eighth) each find themselves in the top-10. The Eagles also are the only team in the league to have three players in the top-10 in the OVC in rebounding as Kirkwood (second), Carter (sixth), and Crawford (ninth) each rank for Morehead State.

Thursday's game versus Tennessee Tech is slated for a 4 p.m. ET tip-off and airs on both ESPN+ and the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety Eagle Sports Network (MSUEagles.com and WIVY-96.3 FM).

INSIDE THE SERIES
Records: Morehead State (1-5; 0-2 OVC) | Tennessee Tech (4-2; 2-1 OVC)
Series: Tennessee Tech leads 61-29
Last Five Meetings: Jan. 23, 2020 (TTU 82, MOR 75) | Jan. 4, 2020 (TTU 75, MOR 55) | Feb. 23, 2019 (MOR 73, TTU 70) | Jan. 24, 2019 (MOR 77, TTU 56) | Jan. 20, 2018 (MOR 53, TTU 51)

NOTABLE
Morehead State's last game versus Bowling Green (Dec. 19) marked the second time this season the Eagles have had two players record a double-double as Ariel Kirkwood poured in 17 points and pulled down 16 rebounds and Gabby Crawford added 15 points and 10 rebounds. The game joined the Transylvania game (Dec. 15) as the team's two games with a pair of double-doubles.

Kirkwood's 16 rebounds against Bowling Green marked a career-best for the sophomore while her rebounding total also marked the second time this season she's grabbed 15 or more boards, having grabbed 15 versus Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 11.

On the season, Kirkwood is averaging 9.7 rebounds per game, a total that ranks her second in the Ohio Valley Conference in rebounding. Overall, she's pulled down 58 boards in six games, including three contests with 10 or more rebounds, two of which featured 15 or more rebounds.

As a team, Morehead State ranks third in the OVC in rebounding, pulling down an average of 41.33 rebounds per game. The Eagles are the only team in the OVC to feature three players in the top-10 in the conference in rebounding with Kirkwood (second [9.7]), Lauren Carter (sixth [8.0]), and Gabby Crawford (ninth [7.2]) each placing in the top-10.

Morehead State's game against Bowling Green also marked the third time this season the Eagles have recorded 10 or more blocks in a game, rejecting 10 Falcon shots on Dec. 19. The Eagles have out-blocked their opponent in each game this season, turning away 52 total shots.

Morehead State's 52 blocks through six games lead the OVC and rank sixth in the NCAA with the Eagles the only team in the NCAA top-20 to rank on the list playing eight or fewer games. The team's average of 8.7 blocks per game leads the nation by nearly a block and a half over the Big 12's Oklahoma State (7.3 blocks per game).

Like Morehead State, Kirkwood also finds herself ranked sixth in the NCAA in total blocks, denying 24 shots this season, a total that leads the OVC and ranks tops amongst guards in the NCAA. Through six games, her 4.0 blocks per contest rank second in the NCAA behind UC Davis' Sage Stobbart who blocked five shots in her team's lone game this season.

As the top blocking team in the OVC, Morehead State places four players in the conference's top-10 in blocked shots, being the only team with that distinction in the league. Kirkwood who leads the league is joined by Crawford (fifth [1.33]), Carter (sixth [1.17]), and Ellie Jo Johnson (eighth [1.00]) in the league's top-10.

Under head coach Greg Todd, Morehead State has consistently been the top blocking team in the OVC, being the only team to exceed 100 or more blocks a season in each of the past six seasons and finishing lower than the league's leader in total blocks and blocks per game once apiece, in 2014-15 and 2017-18, respectively. Under Todd, the Eagles have blocked 1,105 shots in 194 games, an average of 5.7 per game.

Crawford leads the Eagles and ranks second in the OVC in reaching the free throw line, earning her way to the charity stripe 44 times this season. She's converted 33 of her opportunities at the free throw line, a total that also ranks second in the league. Her 7.33 free throw attempts per game also lead the OVC.

As a team, Morehead State ranks third in the OVC in free throw attempts, having reached the charity stripe 128 times this season. On the year, the Eagles average 21.3 trips to the line per game, having reached the line 20 or more times in a game on four occasions this season, including a season-high 30 attempts versus Dayton on Nov. 25.

Morehead State ranks fourth in the OVC in steals per game with an average of 9.3 steals per contest. The Eagles have swiped 56 steals this season in six games, including a season-high 15 steals versus Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 11. Two Eagles, Carter and Kirkwood, rank sixth in the OVC at 2.0 steals per game.

Morehead State women's basketball coach Greg Todd enters Thursday's game seeking his 100th career coaching victory at Morehead State. In reaching 100 career victories at MSU, he'd become the third coach in program history to reach the milestone, joining Mickey Wells (156) and Loretta Marlow (110) as the only Eagle coaches to accomplish the milestone.