CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ? A school-record tying 39 turnovers doomed Austin Peay State University women's basketball team as it suffered a 95-60 non-conference loss to Middle Tennessee, Saturday night, at the Dunn Center.

The Lady Govs (4-5) ? harassed all night by the Blue Raiders full-court trapping defense ? committed 20 first-half turnovers and followed that with 19 second-half miscues. The Blue Raiders happily cashed in those turnovers for 43 points, including 25 points off turnovers in the second half.

While Middle Tennessee (6-5) forced the 20 first-half turnovers, it could not build more than a 14-point cushion and led by 13 points, 36-23, at halftime. The Blue Raiders finally broke the game open in the second half courtesy a 23-8 run over 6:30 that gave them a 68-38 lead with 9:58 remaining and they would not be threatened the game's remainder.

In addition to its ball handling woes, Austin Peay had another night to forget at the free throw line, making just 18-of-31 (58.1 percent). Ten Lady Govs players went to the free throw line with seven making 50 percent or less of their attempts.

Freshman Ashley Herring led the Lady Govs with 16 points and a team-high six rebounds. Senior Kellea Reeves added 11 points. Sophomore Janay Armstrong, making her first Austin Peay appearance, finished with eight points and team-best six rebounds in 17 minutes of action.

MTSU's Amber Holt led all players in scoring (33), rebounding (14) and assists (five). Emily Queen and Chelsia Lymon each had 14 points for the Blue Raiders.

Austin Peay returns to action at the Lady Rebel Christmas Classic, Dec. 20-21, in Las Vegas, Nev. The Lady Govs will meet host UNLV in a 9:30 p.m. (CST), Thursday, first-round contest.

- AP -

Lady Govs head coach Carrie Daniels Post-Game Quotes

Her evaluation of the Lady Govs loss:
[Middle Tennessee's pressure] was something we were prepared for and knew was going to happen so its embarrassing. I felt like after we went in at halftime down 13 points we didn't play our best but I thought we were in a good position. We've been a second-half team this season and I felt like being 13-points down we were all right. But we came out in the second half and it snowballed, we had a few turnovers in a row and we fell apart. I'm very disappointed with our performance tonight.

On Amber Holt's performance:
Amber is a tremendous talent, a tremendous player and I knew we were going to have our hands full with her tonight. She's a player who can when she gets the ball she's going to find the open floor and make the shot or get to the free throw line

On Nicole Jamen's performance (nine points and six rebounds):
I've been very proud of Nicole. She's doing exactly what we've asked of her and what we wanted from her. Nicole has so much potential and so much talent, she's still going to make mistakes, being just a sophomore, but I believe she's a player the fan's like watching on the court.