FRIDAY'S SCORES
Austin Peay 58, @FIU 56
Eastern Illinois 60, Western Illinois 52
@IUPUI 72,
Eastern Kentucky 42
Jacksonville 55,
@Jacksonville State 40
Samford 84,
@Murray State 56
AUSTIN PEAY 58, FIU 56
MIAMI, Fla - Trailing by ten points with 7:22 remaining, Austin Peay State University women's basketball pulled off a thrilling comeback victory, 58-56, over Florida International at the FIU Holiday Hoops Showdown.
It was a slow start for the Governors, who only managed to score eight points in the first ten minutes of action. The Govs were getting looks at the basket, but were never able to heat up from the floor in the first quarter.
Things changed when freshman Shay-Lee Kirby exploded for ten second-quarter points. The Vienna, West Virginia, native buried two three-pointers to help the Governors to their largest lead of the day – seven points with 1:22 remaining before the half. Nieja Crawford and Tahanee Bennell each hit a three-pointer in the quarter as well, as the Govs took a 33-28 lead into the locker room.
But the third quarter was reminiscent of the first, as the Governors were only able to muster eight points. FIU retook the lead in the third quarter, and after thirty minutes of action, the Panthers led 43-41.
With 7:22 left in the contest, the Governors faced their largest deficit of the day, and the tournament, trailing by 10 points. Three-pointers from Nieja Crawford and Kirby on back-to-back possessions cut the lead to four with 6:45 left in the game.
Crawford's rebounding and defensive prowess sparked the Govs. Crawford pulled down an offensive board that led to two Brandi Ferby free-throws, which cut the lead to two. A few possessions later, Crawford got a steal on the defensive end and buried her third three-pointer of the day on the other end to cut the Panther lead back to one.
Brandi Ferby did the rest of the scoring for the Governors, converting a wide-open layup to give the Govs a one point lead, before knocking down four consecutive free-throws to put the game – and the championship – on ice.
The Governors will finally return home to the Dunn Center at 2 p.m., Dec. 29, when they take on the Redbirds of Illinois State. The Govs wrapped up a five-game road trip at the FIU Holiday Hoops Showdown, and will play their first game in Clarksville in 38 days when they take on Illinois State.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 60, WESTERN ILLINOIS 52
DEKALB, Ill. - The Panthers defeated WIU 60-52 after dominating on the board the entire game. Karle Pace led all scorers with 21 points, and Abby Wahl managed 19 points. Eastern gave up plenty of turnovers on the game, with 27; however the Panthers didn't waver and stayed in the game. WIU struggled against the defensive pressure that Eastern forced. 41 total fouls were called during the game. Eastern's record moves up to 6-4 on the season, while WIU drops to 6-7.
The Panthers got off to a strong start, stealing the ball seven times in the first quarter of play. The Leathernecks struggled early with turnovers, giving up the ball four times in the first five minutes of play. The Panthers, while active on defense, got too anxious and committed six fouls. The Leathernecks committed four personal fouls. Pace led the Panthers in scoring with 6 points. WIU led the Panthers 16-15 going into the second quarter.
Pace continued to produce for the Panthers, swishing an two early threes. After a Paige Schumann to Wahl jumper went in, the Leathernecks were forced to take a timeout with five minutes left in the half. Out of the break, Schumann stripped the ball away and passed up to Pace who nailed her fourth three of the night. Claudia Stan got into the game to slow down the post offense by Western, and quickly made her presence known. Stan grabbed three offensive rebounds which ultimately ended in a layup by Jennifer Nehls. EIU led 32-29 at the half.
Eastern came out of the half a little slow, but came back in the final minutes of the third quarter. Wahl scored 7 points and led the majority of the offense for the Panthers. Litwiller spread out the floor knocking down the three and keeping EIU ahead in the game. WIU was outscored by 4 points in the third quarter. EIU stayed in the lead, 48-41.
Stan continued to be a presence in the paint coming off of the bench. Stan swatted two blocks and one steal in the fourth, keeping the Leathernecks humble. Wahl, Pace and Taylor Steele carried the offensive load for EIU in the fourth. The Panthers led 55-47 with a minute left in play, and managed to hold the lead, winning their fourth game on the road. After a Leatherneck steal and layup, WIU was within 6 points. Panthers held the lead and secured third place in the Compass Tournament.
The Panthers will return to Lantz Arena after the holidays to take on Valpariaso on Dec. 30.
IUPUI 72, EASTERN KENTUCKY 42
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Eastern Kentucky University’s women’s basketball team fell on the road 72-42 Friday at IUPUI.
IUPUI (6-5) opened the third quarter on a 13-2 run to take a 46-27 lead halfway through the third and did not look back. The Jaguars led 54-35 at the end of three quarters.
Eastern (6-5) opened up the second quarter on a 7-0 run after Catie Kaifes scored the first seven points of the quarter to cut the Jaguars lead to 23-18, with 7:42 remaining in the first half. IUPUI followed up the Colonel run with an 8-0 run of its own to push its lead back to 31-18 with 3:53 remaining in the half.
Samari Mowbray scored the final four points of the half to cut the Jaguars lead to eight, 33-25 at the break.
The Jaguars opened the game on a 13-2 run after a three by Holly Hoopingarner with 4:53 remaining in the quarter. IUPUI took a 23-11 lead after the first quarter.
Mowbray led the way for the Colonels posting 10 points. Kaifes chipped in nine points off the bench.
Macee Williams led the way with 22 points and 15 rebounds for the Jaguars. Hoopingarner chipped in 13 points and five reounds.
Eastern returns to the court on Jan. 2 when the Colonels open up conference play at home against Tennessee Tech. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.
JACKSONVILLE 55, JACKSONVILLE STATE 40
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Graduate-senior Destiney Elliott posted her second-straight double-double with a team-high 16 points but the Jacksonville State women's basketball could get much else going in a 55-40 setback to Jacksonville on Friday.
The Gamecocks (4-6) were held to their lowest scoring total in 44 games, dating back to a 66-35 loss to nationally-ranked Belmont on Feb. 21, 2018. The loss to the visiting Dolphins (7-5) also snapped Jax State's eight-game home winning streak.
Behind Elliott's 16 points and team-high 11 boards, freshman Nekiyah Thompson had eight points as the only other Gamecock with more than five. A key factor in JSU's offensive struggles came on 21 turnovers, the second-most for the season behind 22 at Vanderbilt in the season-opener.
Despite trailing for more than 36 minutes in the game, the Gamecocks took their largest lead of the game early in the second half after back-to-back three-pointers by Elliot to begin the third period to make it 26-24. It was a boost after JSU was held to a season-low six points in the second period.
JU regained the lead with an 8-0 run until Jayla Walker drained a triple of her own to break the momentum. Leading by 10 late in the quarter, Thompson pulled up for a couple of deep jumper to bring JSU back to within six at 41-35 heading into the fourth.
Unfortunately, the final period did not open well for the Red and White who went more than six minutes without a basket as JU went on a 10-0 run to stretch the lead to 16 with 4:21 left on the clock. JSU was unable to close the gap much in the closing minutes, dropping its third-straight game in the JSU-JU series.
The Gamecocks will wrap up their non-conference slate between Christmas and New Year's Day with a road contest at Auburn on Dec. 28.
SAMFORD 84, MURRAY STATE 56
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State women’s basketball team got in an 18-0 hole to start in Friday’s game and was never able to recover, falling, 84-56 to Samford at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky. The loss also put an end to an eight-game home winning streak by the Racers, dating back to last season.
The Racers were outscored 26-5 in the first quarter and trailed the Bulldogs by 37, 51-14, at the half. In the third, the Racers finally found their offensive stroke by shooting nearly 60-percent from the floor, at 10-for-17, and over 60-percent from 3-point range, at 5-for-8, in the stanza. In addition to the hot shooting in the third, the Racers also found their footing defensively and limited Samford to just 13 points and 35.7-percent shooting. Murray State outscored the Bulldogs, 42-33, in the second half, but it was not enough to overcome the slow start, as the Racers fell for the second straight game.
Macey Turley led MSU on the night with 14 points, four assists and zero turnovers, while Alexis Burpo followed with 12 points and six boards. Laci Hawthorne led Murray State in rebounding in the game with nine, to go along with four points and two blocks.
Murray State returns to action Dec. 28 to close out its non-conference slate against NAIA-member Cumberland (Tenn.) at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.