By: Marlon Scott | Senior Staff Writer
The Lady Govs continued Ohio Valley Conference Tournament play Friday, March 5, against OVC Player of the Year Chynna Bozeman and the Morehead Eagles.
The Eagles swept the Lady Govs in the regular season. The question Friday was could they beat the Lady Govs three times in the row?
The Lady Govs answered with a resounding no.
The road to the Big Dance still has to come through the Lady Govs. They defeated Morehead 78-71 and advanced to the OVC Tournament Championship game for the second year in a row.
“Morehead is a tremendously talented team, obviously,” said Lady Govs head coach Carrie Daniels. “They had beaten us twice this year very handedly and so we knew that we were up against a tough task.”
Lady Govs junior guard Ashley Herring jump started the team with the first six points of the game. The Lady Govs used the momentum and established an 11-4 lead at the 15:33 mark.
The Eagles slowed the Lady Govs down and fought to within one point, 10-19 at the 9:51 mark. However, they Lady Govs would not relinquish the lead the whole first half.
The dynamic duo of senior forward Nicole Jamen and sophomore Jasmine Rayner, helped the Lady Govs finish strong and go into halftime ahead of the Eagles, 40-32.
Herring led the team with 11 first half points. Jamen and Rayner were right behind her with 10 and nine points respectively.
Bozemon scored 15 in the first half. But the Eagles normally potent 3-point shooting game was anemic. They made only 3-of-13 (23 percent) from 3-point range.
The Eagles soared on a 12-2 run at the beginning of the second half. It gave them their first lead of the game, 44-42 with 15:53 remaining.
But the lead was short lived. The lead changed hands three times. At the 12:43 mark, junior guard Brooke Faulkner made her second 3-pointer of the game to give the Lady Govs a 52-49 lead.
Afterwards, the Lady Govs went on an 11-2 run and did not look back. The Eagles would get no closer than seven points the rest of the game.
Four Lady Govs finished the game with double-digit points. Herring scored 21. Both Rayner and Jamen got double-doubles. Jamen pulled down 15 rebounds in addition to her 13 points for the second game in a row. Rayner scored 20 with 11 rebounds. Whitney Hanley scored 16.
“I think the key was with everything we faced throughout the season, the ups and downs, we had to put that behind us coming into the tournament because it was a clean slate,” Daniels said. “Again its one and done; if you lose, you go home. We had a fresh start and we had to play like the talent that we have and our true capabilities. I feel like, for two games now, that is what we have done.”
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