APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team dropped its first home game of the season, 81-66 against Western Illinois, Saturday.
The Fighting Leathernecks jumped out to the early lead, as the Govs struggled with turnovers in the first two possessions.
Falon Baker calmed the storm with a three-point shot to open the Austin Peay (7-2) scoring.
Keisha Gregory then took over the Governors offense scoring nine points in the first period
The Govs worked to cut into the lead in the second quarter, which stretched to 20 points early in the period. Brianne Alexander helped give the Governors second chances, pulling down four offensive rebounds and six total in the second quarter.
Austin Peay found success with quick ball movement against Western Illinois’ 1-3-1 zone defense, but the Governors lost the battle at the foul line with the Leathernecks shooting 16-of-18 from the line with the Govs going 2-of-4 from the stripe.
After the halftime break, the Governors made several runs to get back into contention, but struggled to string together consecutive stops on defense. Keisha Gregory scored eight points with Falon Baker adding six points and two rebounds in the third quarter.
Western Illinois (9-2)had a 5-0 run to open the fourth quarter, but the Govs responded with an 8-0 run of their own, cutting the Leathernecks lead to 13 points. The Governors scored seven points off Western Illinois turnovers and had 11 bench points while limiting the Leathernecks to two in the final period.
Keisha Gregory led the Governors with a career-high tying 17 points with four assists and two rebounds. Falon Baker scored 16 points and grabbed four rebounds, shooting 50.0 percent from three-point territory.
Shelbe Piggie provided a spark off the bench scoring nine points in her 20 minutes on the court. Arielle Gonzalez-Varner and Brianah Ferby each added five points as Austin Peay tallied 19 points from the bench.
Game Notes
Austin Peay’s seven-game winning streak was its longest since 2003-04 season.
Gregory led the Govs in scoring with 17 points, tying a career high set against Alabama A&M (11/21/17).
Gregory has scored in double digits for seven straight games.
Alexander led the Governors with seven rebounds.
Bri Williams dished out six assists to lead the Govs
Catching up with coach David Midlick
Overall Thoughts
“We competed in the second half, I thought we adjusted defensively. We sent them to the free throw line 18 times in the first half and only four in the second half. I thought we had good looks at the basket, and we only had 13 turnovers against a team that has been turning over teams a lot. We have some things we need to fix, but there were a lot of positives today.”
Prepping for OVC Play
“The first thing is we have to keep teams in front of us defensively and we have to talk. Second, I want us to continue to stay aggressive offensively. I don’t think we were as aggressive as we could have been in the first half.”
Next Up for APSU Women’s Basketball
Austin Peay will have a week off before the first game of a two-game road series, 2:00pm, December 16th, 2017 at Illinois.
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