Tiffany Hamilton only hit one field goal at Eastern Kentucky. She only needed one.
Morehead State women’s basketball survived a furious EKU rally and Hamilton broke a nine-minute scoring drought with a game-winning jumper to lift the Eagles over their Ohio Valley Conference rivals, 59-58 Saturday afternoon at McBrayer Arena.
“It was definitely high-intensity, high-energy and very competitive,” Morehead State coach Mike Bradbury said. “They battled back, they’re talented.”
EKU (9-10, 5-4 OVC) rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit and took the lead with a minute to go, taking advantage of MSU scoring just two field goals in the final 10 minutes. Fortunately for the Eagles one of the two field goals was Hamilton’s jumper. It marked Morehead State’s seventh straight win over the Lady Colonels and its eighth win in the last nine tries.
MSU (14-7, 7-2 OVC) ripped off an 11-2 run to start the second half and led by as much as 17, but the Lady Colonels cooked up a 10-run of their own to offset the Eagle run and remain within seven points. A pair of steals and fast break lay-ups by Ashar Harris and Tiffanie Stevens pushed the lead back to double digits for MSU.
The Eagle scoring drought allowed Eastern Kentucky to whittle away at the lead and pull ahead with one minute to go on a lay-up by Alex Jones. Hamilton hit the game winner with her foot on the 3-point line and 12 seconds to play after Sahkeyia Colyer missed two free throws that would have given EKU a three-point lead. EKU missed two close-range shots as time expired.
“We got it to Tiffany and she stepped back and made a great shot,” Bradbury said. “She has the courage and the guts to have the confidence to make the shot.”
Chynna Bozeman led all scorers with 21 points, hitting five 3-pointers. Courtney Lumpkin finished with 12 points and four assists and Harris tallied a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Eagles had 14 team steals, nine of which came in the first half.
The Eagles started the first half sluggish, trailing by as much as six after an Alex Jones lay-up. Bozeman hit her first of three first-half treys to pull the Eagles within one. Following a lay-up from Michaelea Kleist, Lumpkin swished a 3-pointer to tie it and then after Kleist hit another layup, Lumpkin hit another triple to give MSU its first lead of the game.
A pair of EKU buckets gave the Lady Colonels the lead back, but Harris tallied a tip-in that gave Morehead State the lead for good in the first half. The Eagles slowly extended the lead, pushing it out as far as seven on a pair of charity tosses by Hamilton, but a jumper by Shakeyia Colyer made the halftime margin five.
Jones led the Lady Colonels with with 15 points and Colyer scored 14. Kleist finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double.
MSU will be on the road at Tennessee State Thursday for a 6:30 p.m. ET tip-off. The Eagles won the first meeting between the two teams, 61-47 in early January.
“That’s a tough trip,” Bradbury said. “Most people go down there and lose two games. We need to go down there and be 1-0 after that first game."
Rowan County Sports
Eagles survive EKU rally with Hamilton's game-winner
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