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HomeSportsAustin Peay State University Women's Basketball travels to Jacksonville State Thursday

Austin Peay State University Women’s Basketball travels to Jacksonville State Thursday

Austin Peay at Jacksonville State

Thursday, January 8th, 2015 | 5:30pm CT
Jacksonville, AL | Mathews Coliseum

Austin Peay State University Lady Govs - APSUJacksonville, AL – Six days after opening Ohio Valley Conference play with a win, Austin Peay women’s basketball team will face a stingy Jacksonville State squad in a 5:30pm, Thursday OVC contest.

The Lady Govs opened OVC play with a win for the first time since the 2010-11 season, posting an 81-71 victory at Eastern Kentucky, Saturday.

Austin Peay Lady Govs Basketball travel to Jacksonville to take on Gamecocks Thursday. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Lady Govs Basketball travel to Jacksonville to take on Gamecocks Thursday. (APSU Sports Information)

Austin Peay enjoyed a red-hot second half that saw it make 56 percent (14-of-25) of its field goals and 70.8 percent (17-of-24) of its free throws en route to a 49-point half that helped it overcome a 16-point deficit.

Austin Peay will run into a Jacksonville State squad that entered OVC play as the league’s hottest team, posting a 9-3 nonconference mark. The Gamecocks split their opening OVC weekend, opening with a three-point (72-69) victory at SIUE before falling on a buzzer-beater, 66-63, at Eastern Illinois.

APSU's Tiasha GrayStill, Jacksonville State has not allowed an opponent to score more than 70 points this season, its 58.6 points per game allowed leading the OVC.

Individually, APSU junior guard Tiasha Gray is making a splash in the national rankings as she ranks among Division I’s top 30 in steals (3.4 pg, 7th), assists (6.4 pg, 10th) and scoring (19.6 pg, 30th).

She is also one of nine Division I players to record a triple-double this season, notching the feat against Saint Louis, November 19th.

Jacksonville Gamecocks

Jacksonville State GamecocksJacksonville State posted a 9-3 mark in nonconference play with a 64-62 victory at Alabama, November 18th, highlighting the slate… That win at Alabama sparked a six-game win streak for the Gameocks which, after back-to-back losses, they followed with a four-game win streak… Win or lose, each of JSU’s last four games have been decided by three or fewer points.

Jacksonville State is 5-0 at Pete Matthews Coliseum this season and they are outscoring opponents 68.8-56.2 in those games… JSU leads the league in scoring defense (58.6), scoring margin (+6.4), rebounding margin (+3.1) and turnover margin (+2.7)… Five Gamecocks are averaging more than 8.0 points per game this season… Candace Morton leads JSU and ranks 16th among OVC scorers with 12.4 points per game.

Last Season’s Meeting

Austin Peay women’s basketball team rallied back from a lackluster first-half performance, but could not hold on to a small second half lead and suffered a 69-65 OVC loss to Jacksonville State, at the Dunn Center.

Jacksonville State led by as much as 18 points in the second half, but Austin Peay battled back and led by a point, 65-64, with 1:16 left after Tiasha Gray converted a three-point play.

Yet that would be Austin Peay’s final points of the contest. Jacksonville State got a pair of free throws from Candace Morton and a traditional three-point play from Briana Benson to secure the lead and the win.

Gray led Austin Peay with her second consecutive 20-point outing. Nicole Olszewski scored 16 points, all in the second half. Jennifer Nwokocha and Tearra Banks each recorded double-doubles. Nwokocha finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Banks had a 11-point, 13-rebound performance.

Morton led Jacksonville State with 23 points. Benson chipped in 17 points while Destany McLin added 12 points.

What You Should Know

An Austin Peay Win Would: Give it back-to-back wins for the first time this season… Be its second straight OVC win… Be its fourth straight win at Pete Mathews Coliseum… Improve Daniels’ record to 93-167 overall… Make the Lady Govs 446-640 overall since 1976-77.

An Austin Peay Loss Would:  Be its second straight loss to Jacksonville State… Keep it without back-to-back wins in its last 20 games… Be its first loss at Pete Mathews Coliseum since February 19th, 2009, ending a three-game win streak… Drop Carrie Daniels’ record to 92-168 overall… Make the Lady Govs 445-641 overall since 1976-77.

Video

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkNyWHnw4JY[/youtube]

Broadcast Information

Radio • Governors Sports Network
Play-by-Play: David Loos
Analyst: Cody Bush

Lady Govs On The Web

Live Video: www.OVCDigitalNetwork.com
Live Audio: www.LetsGoPeay.com/Watch
Live Statistics: www.JSUGamecockSports.com

Next Team Up

Tennessee Tech | Saturday
Austin Peay’s concludes its six-game, 30-day road trip with a 5:30pm, Saturday contest at Tennessee Tech. It is traditionally one of the toughest places for the Lady Govs to play with just six wins in 36 trips to the Eblen Center. Tennessee Tech opened OVC play with losses at Eastern Illinois (67-59) and SIUE (83-69) last weekend.

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