By Cody Evans
MOREHEAD
MARCH 5 — NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The MSU Lady Eagles fell 78-71 to Austin Peay Friday at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in the semi-finals of the OVC Tournament. The loss drops Morehead State to 22-10 for the year.
MSU junior guard Chynna Bozeman finished the day with a game-high 27 points, a stat negated by her 8-27 shooting performance.
The Lady Eagles failed to get their shooting game on track across the board, posting a 30.9 field goal percentage, compared to Austin Peay’s 43.6 percent.
“Usually we have the rest of our team knocking down some shots and they just weren’t falling today,” Bozeman said.
Austin Peay’s consistent play led to a 40-32 Lady Gov advantage at the half.
MSU came out of the locker room with an offensive flurry, battling back to take their first lead at the 17:12 mark of the second half.
After the MSU attack cooled off, the Lady Govs’ consistent approach pushed them ahead again, a lead they would retain for the remainder of the game.
Forward Jasmine Rayner finished the game as APSU’s leading scorer with 20 points.
APSU head coach Carrie Daniels credited her team’s strong inside play for the win.
“We defended, we rebounded,” Daniels said. “I knew that our post players were going to be a key in this ball game.”
Daniels said her team, the defending OVC Tournament champions, experienced a “rollercoaster ride” throughout the 2009-10 season.
“Coming into this tournament, the one thing we stressed was it’s 0-0,” Daniels said. “They (her team) are defending champions and they did that with their defense and their rebounding.”
Morehead State coach Mike Bradbury credited the same attributes as Daniels for the Austin Peay win.
“They were outstanding today rebounding the ball,” Bradbury said. “We just couldn’t quite get over the hump.”
Bradbury said had the opportunity to win but was unable to capitalize.
“I think we played hard enough to win,” Bradbury said. “Our effort was there, we just weren’t quite good enough today.”
APSU went on the repeat as OVC Tournament champions by defeating Eastern Illinois Saturday, 69-60.
