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APSU Lady Govs Basketball comeback falls short in 79-71 loss to Eastern Kentucky Colonels

Austin Peay Sports Information

Austin Peay State University Lady Govs - APSUClarksville, TN – A late surge almost pushed Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team past Eastern Kentucky, but the Lady Govs were unable to get over the hump against the Colonels, falling 79-71 on Senior Night.

Senior Nicole Olszewski scored 13 points in her final home game for Austin Peay in the Lady Govs 79-71 loss to EKU.  (Michael Rios Clarksville Sports Network)
Senior Nicole Olszewski scored 13 points in her final home game for Austin Peay in the Lady Govs 79-71 loss to EKU. (Michael Rios Clarksville Sports Network)

Austin Peay (9-19, 6-9 OVC) saw their Ohio Valley Conference Tournament hopes take a serious blow, falling behind SIU Edwardsville for the eighth spot in the field with just one game remaining on the Lady Govs schedule.

Eastern Kentucky (15-9, 9-4 OVC) re-takes the lead in the OVC East from Belmont.

In a back-and-forth first half, Austin Peay would see its lead reach five points at the 10:19 mark thanks to a pair of free-throws from sophomore Tiasha Gray. However, the Colonels closed the half on a 12-5 run to take a 38-29 advantage into the break.

Tiasha GrayNeither squad shot particularly well from the floor Saturday; the Colonels shot just 35.6 percent (26-of-73) for the game, barely outpaced by the Lady Govs 37.1 percent (23-of-62) mark.

Both teams were even more woeful from beyond the arc, with Eastern Kentucky hitting 17.6 percent (3-of-17) compared to Austin Peay’s 14.3 percent (2-of-14).

With both squads engulfed in poor shooting nights, ball control was at a premium and in that, Austin Peay was undone.

Nicole OlszewskiNineteen Lady Govs turnovers led to 18 Colonel points, while Austin Peay scored just two points off nine Eastern Kentucky miscues.

The Eastern Kentucky lead would swell to 11 early in the second half, but Austin Peay mounted a comeback thanks to a pair of players who spent much of the first half on the bench due to foul trouble.

Freshman Beth Rates and senior Nicole Olszewski were held scoreless in the first half on just 12 combined minutes, but both scored in double figures in the second half – Rates finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for her career’s second double-double, while Olszewski scored 13 points and added five boards and five assists in her final game in the Dunn Center.

A Gray jumper cut Eastern Kentucky’s lead to two with under three minutes to go.

Unfortunately, Austin Peay missed its last eight shots from the floor and the Colonels free-throw shooting prowess took over.

As a squad, the Colonels shot 88.9 percent (24-of-27) from the line for the game, including four with less than 30 seconds remaining to put the game away.

Gray led the Lady Govs with 17 points and added eight boards. Olszewski, Rates and freshman Tearra Banks (13 points) also found their way into double figures for Austin Peay.

Beth RatesMarie Carpenter, the second-leading scorer in the OVC entering the game, finished with a game-high 29 points, while Michaela Hunter scored added 20 for the Colonels.

This was the final career home contest for seniors Olszewski and Lauren Yarbrough, who both got the start for Austin Peay.

Austin Peay closes out the regular season with a visit to OVC West champion UT Martin, Saturday, March 1st for a 2:00pm contest.

Box Score

Eastern Kentucky vs Austin Peay
Saturday, February 22nd, 2014 | 5:15pm
Clarksville, TN | Dunn Center

Eastern Kentucky 79

Total 3-point Rebounds
## Player p fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta off-def tot pf tp a to blk stl min
20 HARPER, Shelly f 3-7 0-0 2-2 0-2 2 4 8 0 2 0 2 23
24 MAPLES, Miranda f 1-5 0-4 3-4 1-6 7 2 5 0 3 1 3 25
25 CARPENTER, Marie f 10-31 2-10 7-9 1-7 8 1 29 1 0 0 1 38
01 STAFFORD, Jasmine g 1-3 0-0 0-0 2-3 5 4 2 2 1 0 0 30
05 HUNTER, Michaela g 6-16 0-1 8-8 2-6 8 3 20 1 1 1 3 31
03 MASSENGILL, Mariah 3-5 1-2 0-0 1-0 1 1 7 1 0 0 0 21
21 HENSHAW, Jasmine 1-3 0-0 0-0 2-1 3 2 2 0 1 0 1 16
52 BOWERS, Nicole 1-3 0-0 0-0 3-0 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 6
55 DRAKE, Cierra 0-0 0-0 4-4 1-2 3 2 4 0 1 0 2 10
TM TEAM 3-2 5
Totals………….. 26-73 3-17 24-27 16-29 45 22 79 5 9 2 12 200
35.6% 17.6% 88.9%
Team summary: FG 3FG FT
1st Half: 14-37 1-9 9-10
37.8% 11.1% 90.0%
2nd Half: 12-36 2-8 15-17
33.3% 25.0% 88.2%

Austin Peay 71

Total 3-point Rebounds
## Player p fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta off-def tot pf tp a to blk stl min
14 RATES, Beth f 5-9 0-0 2-2 4-6 10 4 12 1 2 1 1 21
21 NWOKOCHA, Jennifer f 1-3 0-0 2-5 1-5 6 2 4 1 6 0 1 22
01 GRAY, Tiasha g 6-23 0-3 5-8 3-5 8 2 17 0 1 1 1 40
05 OLSZEWSKI, Nicole g 3-4 1-2 6-7 0-5 5 5 13 5 3 0 0 26
22 YARBROUGH, Lauren g 1-2 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 4
04 STAINBACK, Kristen 3-9 0-5 3-3 1-2 3 1 9 1 2 0 0 36
15 FOX, Emily 0-3 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 15
25 BANKS, Tearra 4-8 0-0 5-7 3-5 8 1 13 0 2 2 1 25
32 HARDAWAY, Alexis 0-0 0-0 0-0 1-1 2 2 0 0 3 0 0 5
44 SCOTT, Jacey 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6
TM TEAM 1-3 4
Totals………….. 23-62 2-14 23-33 14-32 46 20 71 9 19 4 4 200
37.1% 14.3% 69.7%
Team summary: FG 3FG FT
1st Half: 9-26 1-7 10-16
34.6% 14.3% 62.5%
2nd Half: 14-36 1-7 13-17
38.9% 14.3% 76.5%

 

 

Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Eastern Kentucky 38 41 79 Record: (15-9 (9-4 OVC))
Austin Peay 29 42 71 Record: (9-19 (6-9 OVC))

 

Points in the paint-EKU 30,APSU 22.Points off turnovers-EKU 18,APSU 2.
2nd chance points-EKU 14,APSU 6.Fast break points-EKU 2,APSU 0.
Bench points-EKU 15,APSU 22.Score tied-6 times. Lead changed-4 times.
Last FG-EKU 2nd-01:12, APSU 2nd-02:54.
Largest lead-EKU by 11 2nd-19:13, APSU by 5 1st-10:19.

 

 

Officials: Todd Moistner, Kerry Winders, Mike TrussellTechnical fouls: Eastern Kentucky-STAFFORD, Jasmine. Austin Peay-None.

Attendance: 1277

Player of the Game: Beth Rates

 

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