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COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—Senior guard Tiffany Hamilton hit a career high six three pointers on eight attempts, scoring a team high 21 points to lead the Morehead State women’s basketball team over host Tennessee Tech 71-63 Thursday night to open Ohio Valley Conference play 5-0 for the first time since 1979-80. Overall, MSU won its third straight game and improved to 12-5.
The win also pushed the Eagles’ road winning to streak five, which tied the school record.
Trailing by four with just under three minutes to play, Kellie Cook sunk a 3-pointer to pull Tech within one, but Hamilton responded with her sixth 3-pointer of the game to push the lead back to four. After a Tech field goal, Deja Watson hit a baseline jumper to push the Eagle lead to four. Hamilton then hit a free throw and Courtney Lumpkin hit two freebies to seal the win for MSU.
Lumpkin finished with 17 points and four assists, and Tiffanie Stephens scored 15 points. Watson had nine rebounds to lead MSU, Stephens had a career high eight boards and Hamilton had seven – a season high.
Kellie and Kylie Cook each had 16 points for the Golden Eagles and Tacarra Hayes became the fourth player in TTU history to post a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Kylie Cook had 14 of her 16 in the first half.
In the first half, the Eagles trailed 37-31 after the opening 20 minutes. Tech shot 45 percent in the first half and matched MSU with six three pointers, but the Eagles managed to hit just 29 percent of their field goals. The Eagles heated up in the second half when they outscored TTU 40-26. The Eagles finished the game hitting 13 of 33 triples, while Tech was 11-of-28. The teams’ combined 24 three-pointers out-did each teams’ field goals inside the arc as there were only 22 of those combined.
The Eagles finished the game shooting 36 percent while Tech matched that figure, but in the final half the Eagles forced TTU to hit only 27 percent. The Eagles also out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 45-44.
Morehead State will head south and continue the OVC road swing, facing Jacksonville State Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. A win would set a school mark for the first 6-0 OVC in MSU women’s basketball history.
