Senior guard Almesha Jones scored a season-high 27 points, while sophomore forward Shay Steele and freshman forward Eriel McKee registered double-doubles to lead the Morehead State women's basketball team to an 82-72 victory at Austin Peay Monday night.
The Eagles won their second game in three days, improving to 8-11 overall and 4-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. MSU evened its all-time series with the Lady Govs at 38 games apiece. APSU fell to 6-13 overall and 3-3 in the league.
Jones also handed out nine assists and is now only one handout shy of the MSU career record held by Irene Moore (1978-82) with 499. She also added five steals.
"We were very focused tonight, and Austin Peay presented a tough team to stop offensively," Head Coach Greg Todd said. "I felt like we did a nice job defensively on their post players. We felt like if we attacked the rim, we had more team speed and we could get to the free throw line. We did that."
Morehead State led for more than 38 minutes, and Austin Peay never led. The Lady Govs only tied the contest three times.
McKee collected her sixth double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Steele put together her third double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Natalie Greenwell came off the bench for 11 points, her 10th double-figure effort in 2014-15.
The home team rallied to tie the game at 66 with 4:43 left, but a Jones' three-pointer thwarted APSU's bid for a comeback. Jones scored MSU's final 11 points.
MSU scored the first six points before holding a 19-18 edge at the 10:33 mark of the first half. The Eagles used a Greenwell three-pointer to ignite an 8-0 run to push ahead 27-18.
The Eagles shot 45 percent (30-of-66) for the game and hit 17-of-24 free throws. Austin Peay managed 45 percent (30-of-67) as well. The visitors out-rebounded the Lady Govs, 45-38.
Morehead State continues a three-game conference road swing Saturday at Jacksonville State. Game time is 3 p.m.
