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MOREHEAD, Ky. – After posting its season-best field goal percentage for the second consecutive game Thursday in a 74-49 victory at Tennessee State, Morehead State women's basketball looks to build upon its hot shooting, concluding its three-game road trip Saturday at Belmont.

The Eagles enter the weekend contest after fashioning a 44.9 shooting percentage after firing 22-of-49 from the field. Thursday's game marked the second-consecutive game of the road swing that Morehead State posted a season-best shooting percentage, recording a 43.1 percent clip Tuesday at Jacksonville State.

Redshirt senior Tyler Moore paced Morehead State with a season-high-tying 24 points behind a career-high-tying eight triples. Her performance from long range marked her second eight-three-pointer game this season, as she becomes the first Eagles since Chynna Bozeman in 2010-11 to have two or more games with seven-plus made threes.

Moore headlined a trio of double-figure scorers against Tennessee State, being joined by redshirt sophomore Gabby Crawford (19) and junior Ellie Jo Johnson (10). Crawford's 19 points were a career-high while she added 10 boards to tally her seventh double-double of the year, tying for the Ohio Valley Conference's lead in the category.

On the defensive end, redshirt sophomore Lauren Carter led the Eagles with a career-high five blocks. She joins Kirkwood, Crawford, and Johnson to make Morehead State—the OVC's shot-blocking leader—the only team in the conference with three or more players ranked in the top-10 of the league.

Morehead State and Belmont tip-off Saturday at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tenn. at 2 p.m. ET. The game airs on ESPN+ and the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety Eagle Sports Network (MSUEagles.com and WIVY-96.3 FM).

INSIDE THE SERIES
Records: Morehead State (6-12; 5-9 OVC) | Belmont (11-5; 8-3 OVC)
Series: Belmont leads 17-3
Last Five Meetings: Feb. 20, 2020 (BEL 63, MOR 56) | Jan. 18, 2020 (BEL 71, MOR 62) | Feb. 9, 2019 (BEL 77, MOR 57) | Jan. 10, 2019 (BEL 77, MOR 50) | Feb. 17, 2018 (BEL 80, MOR 56).

NOTABLE
For the second time this season, Tyler Moore led Morehead State with a season-best 24 points, behind the strength of a career-high-tying eight three-balls. She's tied for the team lead with Ariel Kirkwood with her pair of 20-point outings—Murray State [1/11/21] and Tennessee State [2/11/21]—while leading the Eagles with five 20-point games in her career.

Moore finished Thursday's game at Tennessee State 8-of-11 from behind the arc, shooting 72 percent from three. She becomes the first Eagle since Aliyah Jeune in 2018-19 to shoot 70 percent or better from deep while making five or more three-balls with Jeune accomplishing the feat twice, last on Dec. 29, 2018.

With two games sinking eight three-pointers, Moore also becomes the first Eagle since Chynna Bozeman in 2010-11 to record multiple games of seven or more made threes. Bozeman had three such games in 2010-11, including tying a school-record—for the second time—by draining nine threes versus Jacksonville State on March 3, 2011.

As a team, Morehead State finished Thursday's game at Tennessee State 10-of-17 from three, posting the team's best three-point field goal percentage of the season. At 58.8 percent, the game marked the team's most accurate from beyond the arc since posting a 57.1 percent clip (4-of-7) versus Jacksonville State on Jan. 2, 2020.

Thursday's game also marked the first time Morehead State had shot 50 percent or better from three with a minimum of 10 made threes since Jan. 4, 2014, when the Eagles connected on 12-of-21 from long range versus Eastern Illinois.

Propelled by a career-high 19 points and a game-best 10 rebounds, Gabby Crawford recorded her seventh double-double of the season versus Tennessee State. With her double-double, she now holds a share of the Ohio Valley Conference's lead in the category with Southeast Missouri's LaTrese Saine.

Eagle career-highs didn't just occur on the offensive end versus Tennessee State as Lauren Carter posted a career-best five blocks on the evening. She's the eighth different Eagle and one of five with prior NCAA Division I experience to tie or set a career-high in rejections this season.

Speaking of blocks, Morehead State enters the weekend leading the OVC and ranked third in the NCAA with 128 blocks in 18 games. The Eagles also lead the conference and rank second in the nation in blocks per game, averaging 7.1 rejections per contest.

The Eagles are also one of 10 NCAA Division I women's basketball programs to have turned away 100 or more of their opponent's shots, being one of three programs with 125-plus blocks this season. Morehead State also joins South Carolina as the only women's programs to each rank top-three in the country in total blocks and blocks per game.

Ariel Kirkwood leads Morehead State in blocks, collecting 45 in 18 games this year. She ranks 11^th in the country in blocks while her 2.5 blocks per game rank 22^nd in the NCAA. Her 127 career blocks rank sixth in Morehead State women's basketball history as she needs 32 rejections to move past Shelly Johnson (2002-06) for fifth on the program's leaderboard.

In addition to Kirkwood, Morehead State also ranks three other players in the top-10 in the OVC in blocked shots, claiming the third, fifth, and seventh spots as well. Crawford places third with 33 blocks while Carter's 22 rank fifth, and Ellie Jo Johnson places seventh with 14.
With four Eagles ranked in the league's top-10 in blocked shots, Morehead State is the only OVC program with three or more players placed in the top-10 of the conference's leaderboard.

Earning its way to the free throw line for 26 attempts—20 of which were made—against Tennessee State, Morehead State attempted its third-most free throw attempts of the season, marking the fifth time the team has attempted 26 or more free throws this year. The Eagles rank second in the OVC and 24^th and 17^th in the NCAA, respectively, with 357 free throw attempts and 267 free throw makes.

Morehead State also ranks second in the OVC in average free throw attempts and free throw makes this season, averaging 19.8 attempts and 14.8 makes at the charity stripe per game.

Individually, Crawford ranks third and fourth, respectively, in the OVC and 42^nd and 35^th in the NCAA, in free throw attempts and free throws made. He 74 makes in 92 attempts over 18 games also rank her third in the conference in average attempts (5.1) and makes (4.1) per game.

The Eagles also rank fourth in the conference and 46^th in the country in free throw percentage, connecting at a 74.8 percent clip from the charity stripe this season. Morehead State also has a pair of players who rank in the league's top-10 in the category with Crawford (80.4) and Johnson (80.2) ranking eighth and ninth, respectively.

Morehead State also enters the weekend as one of two teams, joined by Southeast Missouri, with two players ranked in the top-10 in the league in rebounding. Crawford ranks second in the conference at 8.9 boards per game while Kirkwood places seventh at 7.4 rebounds per contest.