Two Lady Eagles combined for 42 points to beat visiting Tennessee Tech Thursday at Johnson Arena.
Junior Sandra Lin scored a career high 22 points and Veronica Charles added 20 more to give the Lady Eagles a 70-68 win over the third-ranked Golden Eagles in Ohio Valley Conference play. Charles also had a game-high 10 rebounds.
“Obviously it feels awesome we love winning against anyone,” Coach Cayla Petree said, after the close victory, “But this is really special because of the respect that I personally have for Coach Rosamond and their program.”
Tennessee Tech was held to their season average of 68 points, with 21 points from Anna Walker, and three other Golden Eagle players scoring in double digits. Both teams got off to a slow start shooting 4-13 (33.77%) from the field in the first quarter. Tennessee Tech had a 14-11-point lead over the Morehead State Eagles at the end of the first quarter.
The scoring troubles continued into the second quarter with a combined 3 field goals made by both teams in the first 4 minutes. Morehead State continued to play aggressive defense until the whistle, holding Tennessee Tech to only 12 points in the quarter compared to the Eagles’ 15. The half ended with a 2-point Morehead State lead at 28-26.
The third quarter started with a defensive showing by Morehead State, allowing just 1 field goal in the first 3 minutes of play in the half. Tennessee Tech took a three-point lead going into the final quarter of play due to a combination of jump shots and free throws. The scoring droughts returned though as no team scored in the final minute of the quarter.
The scoring took off in the fourth quarter, with Sandra Lin scoring 13 of her 22 points. Lin scored or assisted on almost every point for Morehead in the final 5 minutes of the victory. She said after the game “I practice, and my teammates believe in me, every time I don’t shoot the shot, they tell me to shoot it. I just trust my practice and I trust my teammates and myself.”
The toughest assignments of the night belonged to guard Veronica Charles.
Charles led the game in rebounds and had some of the tougher defensive assignments on the team.
“I take pride in defending the best players and I will go on anybody coach asks me to go on,” Charles said after the game.
Morehead State ended the night shooting 22-58 (38%) while shooting 7-22 (32%) from beyond the arc and 19-22 (79%) from the foul line. Tennessee Tech shot 23-50 (46%) with 10-23 (43%) from 3 and 12-13 (92%).