Austin Peay State University Women’s Basketball comes up short at Howard, 65-64

Boca Raton, FL – Yamia Johnson scored a season-high 23 points, but the Austin Peay State University (APSU) women’s basketball team was unable to hold off Davidson and dropped a 65-64 decision in the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Tournament, Friday, at FAU Arena.

Austin Peay (3-2) got off to its best start of the season, building a 10-0 lead – its biggest advantage of the contest – after back-to-back D’Shara Booker buckets with 6:04 left in the first quarter. Davidson (4-2) trimmed the deficit to as few as six points in the opening quarter, but Johnson’s first basket of the night put the Govs back up by ten with 35 seconds on the clock.

With nine seconds left in the first quarter, Davidson’s Issy Morgan converted an old-fashioned three-point play for two of her team-high 12 points, trimming the Governors lead to 18-11 after 10 minutes of action.

After a Johnson jumper pushed the Govs lead to nine points to open the second quarter, Davidson went on a 12-0 run that lasted nearly six minutes and gave the Wildcats a 23-20 lead with 2:51 left before halftime. Karle Pace and Johnson halted the Davidson run with back-to-back triples, but the Wildcats closed the half on a 4-0 run and led 27-26 at halftime.

Austin Peay State University got the lead back quickly in the second half, with Kasey Kidwell drilling a three-pointer 29 seconds in to put the Governors ahead, 29-27. After another Davidson old-fashioned three-point play, Ella Sawyer knocked down a triple to give the Govs their final lead of the contest, 36-33, with 5:20 left in the third quarter.

The Wildcats would stretch their advantage to as much as five points, but a Booker layup with 22 seconds left put the Governors down, 47-44, at the end of the third quarter.

A 6-0 run to open the final quarter was capped off with an Elle Sutphin layup that gave Davidson its biggest lead of the second half, 53-44, with 8:11 left to play. Trailing by nine, the Govs battled back and cut the deficit to just four points when Johnson connected from three-point range with 2:10 left in the game.

Austin Peay was able to get the deficit to just two points with 12 seconds left in the game after a pair of Johnson free throws, but the Govs were forced to foul and Davidson’s Cassidy Gould made both of her foul shots to push the lead to 65-61.

Trailing by four points, Shay-Lee Kirby buried a long three-pointer at the buzzer and the Governors dropped a hard-fought, one-point affair with Davidson to open the FAU Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Difference 

Points in the paint. Austin Peay State University was outscored in the paint for the first time since its season-opening loss at Evansville. The Governors connected on six more three-pointers than Davidson, but the Wildcats outscored the Govs, 48-26, in the paint.

APSU Notably 

Yamia Johnson and Karle Pace scored 23 and 11 points, respectively, both have scored in double figures in five-straight games since joining Austin Peay State University.

Austin Peay State University dropped its first game since its season opener at Evansville, November 9th, the Governors also saw a two-game winning streak in Florida come to an end.

The APSU Govs shot 53.7 percent from the floor, they have shot over 50 percent in three of their five games this season.

The Governors shot 46.7 percent (7-15) from three-point range, that is their best single-game performance since they shot 47.6 percent (10-21) from deep against Chattanooga (12/15/20).

Austin Peay State University’s bench scored a season-high 40 points, the Govs reserves have scored at least 30 points in four-straight games.

Davidson was the second of six games against first-time opponents this season for the Governors, who are now 1-1 in those contests.

APSU is now 8-36 in in-season tournament games during November since 1976.

Johnson scored a season-high 23 points, the best single-game performance by a Gov this season and her best single-game performance since she scoffed 25 points against Tennessee Tech, March 4th, in her final game at Jacksonville State.

Freshman Lyric Cole pulled down a team-high five rebounds to lead the Govs on the glass for the second time this season.

Nina De Leon Negron dished out a team-high four assists, she has led the Governors in helpers a team-best four times this season.

Quotably, APSU Head Coach Brittany Young 

Opening thoughts… “A tough loss. It’s a very good Davidson team. They are well-coached and a veteran team and I think we knew that coming into the game. Overall, I think we just talked about the details, we talked about a lot of the small things going into the game. We knew we would have to limit those things in order to win tonight. When it comes down to a one, two-possession game, we look at things like turnovers, free-throw violations, and a couple of missed assignments, and those things cost us the game.”

On the one-day turnaround to play Tulsa… “Our goal is to definitely to be playing games into March and I think people love playing tournaments like this during this time because it helps prepare you for the future. For our team, we don’t have time to hang our heads or feel sorry for ourselves, we are going to get some food, get back in the film room, and get ready for our next opponent. We are going to do our best to leave here tomorrow with at least one win.”

Next Up For APSU Men’s Basketball

It’s a quick turnaround, the Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team will play a Saturday game against Tulsa to wrap up the FAU Thanksgiving Tournament. Tip-off is at 11:00am CT. The Golden Hurricane won their opening game of the tournament, knocking off host Florida Atlantic, 70-68, to improve to 5-0 this season.

For news and updates on everything Governors women’s basketball, follow along on Twitter or Instagram (@GovsWBB) or check back at LetsGoPeay.com.

Box Score

Austin Peay 64, Davidson 65