Morehead-- The Morehead State women's basketball team rallied from 11 points down midway into the second quarter but came up short against Bellarmine 76-70 Sunday afternoon in Johnson Arena.
Sophomore guard Kate Novik led the way for the Morehead State (4-5) with 19 points on 8-13 shooting from the floor. Freshman Chrishawn Coleman added 14 on 6-12 shooting from the field, and red-shirt junior Alyssa Berry finished with a career-high 12. Redshirt freshman Michelle Ugwah was plagued by early foul trouble and finished with 10 points to go with five rebounds in only 19 minutes of play.
With Ugwah sidelined with foul trouble, junior Kuryn Brunson filled in and just missed her second career double-double with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Bellarmine (8-2) went to the first quarter break up 19-15 with junior guard Miyah Brown leading the way with nine points in the opening quarter. The Knights led by as many as eight points twice.
The second quarter saw Bellarmine gradually pull away, through the early stages, culminating with Hope Sivori driving layup to make it 36-25 with 4:14 to go in the half. The Eagles chipped away and trailed at the intermission 40-34.
Out of the intermission, Novik led the Eagles back. She opened the scoring with a three-point play off of a driving lay-in and free throw to trim the lead to 40-36. She pushed the Eagles to just their third lead of the game with another drive to make it 54-43. She capped the scoring and a MSU 12-2 with a three-pointer from the left wing to send the Eagles to the final frame up 57-53.
The teams battled in the fourth quarter and a Coleman jumper capped an 8-0 MSU run to push the Eagles ahead 70-69, with 45 seconds to play. Bellarmine responded with a 7-0 run to close out the game.
The Knights were led by Brown and Hayley Harrison with 16 points apiece. Ashlee Harris added 11 and Hope Sivori chipped in 10.
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