Women's Hoops Returning Home to Face Alice Lloyd in a Matinee Wednesday

GAME NOTES | SCHEDULE PAGE (LINKS TO LIVE VIDEO, LIVE AUDIO AND LIVE STATS

Morehead, Ky.-- The Morehead State women's basketball team returns to the Johnson Arena court Wednesday to take on Alice Lloyd College. Wednesday is Kids Day; several hundred local school children will be in attendance. Tipoff is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. ET. The game can be heard on the Eagle Sports Network (flagship WIVY-96.3 FM) with Tom Lewis and Wes Holland on the call. It can be seen on ESPN+ with Jared Stacy and Dean Hardin calling the action.

Morehead State riding a two-game winning streak after their post-Thanksgiving trip to USC-Upstate. The Eagles got by the host Spartans 66-64 last Friday, led by sophomore guard Kate Novik's 27 points, a career high. Saturday, Morehead State used hot shooting and a solid defense to cruise to an 87-57 victory over Jackson State. 

Alice Lloyd is returning to action after a two-week layoff. The Eagles fell at Ohio Christian 89-73 on November 19. They were led in scoring by Kennedy Harvel with 15 points.

RECORDS
Morehead State:       3-4
Alice Lloyd:               3-7 

SERIES
Record vs. Alice Lloyd:3-0
Last Meeting: 11/20/2018, MSU won 121-56
First Meeting:  12/1/2007, MSU won 83-60
Record in Morehead: 3-0
Record in Pippa Passes: 0-0
Streak: Morehead State, 3 games

NOTABLE

• Saturday against Jackson State in Spartanburg, S.C., Morehead State came out firing: they shot 13-18 from the floor (72%). That is by far the highest percentage in any quarter this season. The previous high was 65% in the first quarter at Louisville on November 21.
• Yesterday, sophomore guard Kate Novik was named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week for her exploits last week in Spartanburg. On Friday, she set a new career high with 27 points, while also leading the Eagles with six rebounds and five assists. She followed that up with 17 points Saturday against Jackson State.
• Novik comes into today's game averaging 17.1 points per game which leads the team and is the fourth-most in the OVC. Novik has been stuffing the stat sheet: she also leads the Eagles in rebounds (7.0 RPG, 6th in OVC), assists (34, 4.9 APG, 1st in OVC), steals (21, 3.0 per game, T-2nd in OVC), free throw percentage (77.1%, 7th in OVC), field goal percentage (50%, 4th in OVC). She is tied for second on the team with Michelle Ugwah with 8 blocks (they rank 6th in the OVC).
• Aileen Marquez has continued her good play early in the season. She has scored in double figures in five of the six games in which she has played. Friday at Upstate, she finished with 16 points and came up big down the stretch of a tight game. Nine of her 16 came in the final four minutes.
• Marquez is averaging 15.5 points per game, which is second on the team and ranks fifth in the OVC. She is second in the conference averaging 2.8 made three-pointers per game. On the season, she has gone 17-42 from distance. Her 40.5% accuracy rate ranks fourth in the OVC. Her 49.3% field goal accuracy ranks sixth in the league.
• Harley Paynter bounced back nicely Saturday against Jackson State. The senior from Boyd County tied Novik for team honors with 17 points. She hit on six of 11 shots from the field, including 5-8 on triples. Those six made field goals are a career-high. She also ended up with six rebounds, giving her 11 for the road trip.
• Michelle Ugwah just missed her first career double-double Saturday against Jackson State. She scored nine points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. She ranks second on the team averaging six rebounds per game. She represented her home country of Ireland in the 2024 FIBA U-20 Women's EuroBasket. She averaged 8.9 points and 7.6 rebounds for the tournament. Ugwah had a big game against Croatia, notching a double-double with 18 points and 18 rebounds.
• Katie Dike finished with a career-high eight points against Jackson State. She also had two blocked shots, giving her a total of nine on the season. Her 1.29 blocks per game rate ranks fifth in the OVC, just ahead of teammates Kate Novik and Michelle Ugwah.
• Morehead State's defense is improving. The Eagles have forced 20+ opponent turnovers in four of the seven games played. Morehead State is averaging 11.6 steals per game; the second-highest average in the OVC at this point of the season.