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HomeSportsAPSU Lady Govs Basketball handles Eastern Illinois Panthers, 84-72

APSU Lady Govs Basketball handles Eastern Illinois Panthers, 84-72

Austin Peay Sports Information

Austin Peay State University Lady Govs - APSUClarksville, TN – A hot start from the floor got Austin Peay State University off to a solid start against Eastern Illinois, Thursday, and the Lady Govs went wire-to-wire in polishing off the Panthers 83-72 in the Dunn Center to get back to .500 in conference play and sweep the season series against EIU.

Austin Peay junior guard Tiasha Gray led all scorers with 31 points. She also had nine rebounds, six steals and five assists. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay junior guard Tiasha Gray led all scorers with 31 points. She also had nine rebounds, six steals and five assists. (APSU Sports Information)

Austin Peay (9-16, 6-6 OVC) takes the lead in the battle for seventh place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings against the Panthers (8-17, 5-7 OVC).

Austin Peay’s 60.0 percent (30-for-50) shooting performance ranks among the best in school history for a single game and marked the first time since February 22nd, 2003 against Southeast Missouri that the Lady Govs broke the 60-percent barrier as a team.

Eastern Illinois, which entered play ranked near the bottom of the OVC in scoring, hit 48.3 percent (14-for-29) from the floor in the first half, but were matched and exceeded by an exceptional first 20 minutes from the Lady Govs.

APSU's Jennifer NwokochaAustin Peay hit 59.3 percent (16-for-27) in the first half, putting three players – junior Jennifer Nwokocha (10 points), senior Kristen Stainback (12) and junior Tiasha Gray (16) – in double figures thanks to a combined 13-for-19 shooting performance in the opening half.

The Lady Govs started out the contest on a 17-6 run spanning nearly six minutes highlighted by five points each from Stainback and Nwokocha. Eastern Illinois chipped away at the lead as the first half wore on, eventually getting to within three points with 2:46 remaining after a three-pointer from EIU’s Sabina Oroszova, who spent much of the first half on the bench with two fouls.

APSU's Kristen StainbackHowever, Austin Peay closed on a 7-1 run, with Gray hitting a lay-up to beat the buzzer, putting the Lady Govs ahead 45-38 heading into halftime.

The Panthers closed the gap to two in the opening moments of the second half after Erica Brown converted an old-fashioned three-point play. From there, the Lady Govs would go on a 13-2 run highlighted by two three-pointers from Stainback to push the advantage to 15 points with 13:45 remaining.

Eastern Illinois, no stranger to adversity and fighting for a spot in the postseason just like Austin Peay, refused to go quietly. After watching most of the first half from the bench, Oroszova wasted little time in making her presence felt – eight of her 12 points came in the second half.

The Panthers were able to whittle the deficit down to seven with 1:35 remaining after Alece Shumpert – a little-used reserve forward who had played just 22 minutes on the season entering the night who led the Panthers with 18 points off the bench – hit her fifth three of the game.

But with the Panthers forced to foul, Gray and sophomore Beth Rates hit five of six free-throws down the stretch to put the game away.

APSU's Tiasha GrayGray led all scorers with 31 points – her season’s sixth 30-point outing – and filled in the rest of the stat sheet as well with nine rebounds, six steals and five assists. Stainback continued her inexorable march to 1,000 points, finishing with 18, including four three-pointers to give herself 961 career points with four regular season games remaining. Nwokocha finished with 12 points and a season-high four assists.

A quartet of Panthers – Shumpert (18 points), Arnisha Thomas (18), Oroszova (12) and Erica Brown (11) – finished in double figures.

After bookending the four-game homestand with wins against Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois, the Lady Govs now find themselves on the road for three of the regular season’s final four contests. First up will be a journey to UT Martin, Saturday, for a 4:00pm start against the OVC-leading Skyhawks.

Box Score

Austin Peay 83 (9-16 6-6 OVC) vs Eastern Illinois. 72 (8-17 5-7 OVC)

1 2 Total Records
Eastern Illinois 38 34 72 8-17 (5-7 OVC)
Austin Peay 45 38 83 9-16 (6-6 OVC)

 

Eastern Illinois 72

## Player FGM-FGA 3FGM-3FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF TOT PF TP A TO BLK STL MIN
20 Thomas, Arnisha 8-14 0-0 2-3 2-3 5 1 18 1 2 0 1 30
10 Oroszova, Sabina 5-13 1-3 1-2 2-2 4 4 12 0 6 0 2 28
11 Brown, Erica 4-10 0-1 3-3 3-7 10 4 11 3 4 1 5 38
5 Lennox, Grace 3-8 1-1 1-1 3-0 3 5 8 5 2 0 1 33
23 Cox, Shakita 0-3 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 4 0 0 1 0 0 15
33 Shumpert, Alece 6-9 5-6 1-2 0-2 2 1 18 0 2 0 2 25
32 Martin, Morgan 2-4 0-0 1-2 0-2 2 3 5 0 2 0 0 16
3 Griffin, Bh’rea 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 15
0 TEAM 0-0 0-0 0-0 1-2 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Totals 28-61 7-12 9-13 11-19 30 24 72 11 21 1 11 200
Percentages 45.9% 58.3% 69.2%

 

Austin Peay 83

## Player FGM-FGA FGM3-FGA3 FTM-FTA OFF-DEF TOT PF TP A TO BLK STL MIN
1 Gray, Tiasha 10-15 2-5 9-14 0-9 9 1 31 5 5 0 6 40
4 Stainback, Kristen 7-13 4-4 0-0 1-5 6 3 18 2 5 0 1 40
21 Nwokocha, Jennifer 4-6 0-0 4-5 0-2 2 4 12 4 4 0 0 30
24 Rates, Beth 3-6 0-0 2-2 2-2 4 4 8 1 2 0 2 25
11 Alexander, Brianne 2-3 0-0 1-2 1-1 2 2 5 0 3 0 0 8
23 Gooch, Sydney 2-3 0-0 1-2 0-4 4 0 5 0 0 3 0 19
12 Rich, Madison 2-3 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 2 4 0 0 0 0 8
44 Scott, Jacey 0-1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 2 1 1 1 30
TM TEAM 0-0 0-0 0-0 2-0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 30-50 6-11 17-25 6-24 30 18 83 14 20 4 10 200
Percentages 60.0% 54.5% 68.0%
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