Following a one season hiatus, Austin Peay women's basketball team returns to the Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball championship when it visits Morehead State in a 4:30 p.m. (CT), Tuesday contest at Johnson Arena.
The Lady Govs will have to battle the theory its hard to beat a team three times in the same season. Austin Peay won both regular-season meetings against Morehead State, the first time it's won two regular-season meetings since the 2000-01 season. However, APSU needed a last-second jumper from sophomore Ashley Herring to pull out a 60-58 victory in Morehead, Jan. 31.
Austin Peay makes its second OVC women's basketball tournament appearance under current head coach Carrie Daniels. The Lady Govs return after failing to qualify for the 2008 tournament. In their previous appearance under Daniels, the Lady Govs lost at Southeast Missouri in the opening round of the 2007 tournament.
Morehead State is making its four straight OVC tournament appearance and second under current head coach Mike Bradbury. Last season, the Eagles fell in the opening round at Murray State, the eventual OVC tournament champion.
ABOUT AUSTIN PEAY...
Austin Peay claimed the tournament's fifth seed with an 80-74 overtime victory against Southeast Missouri, Saturday. The victory ended the Lady Govs five-game losing streak ? their longest this season.
In conference play, the Lady Govs boasted the league's second highest-scoring offense, averaging 68.9 points per OVC outing. Austin Peay made 43 percent of its field goals ? third-best in the league ? including 46.3 percent of its shots inside the three-point line. The Lady Govs have not relied on a perimeter attack this season, attempting only 24.5 percent of their shots from beyond the three-point arc ? only Tennessee Martin attempted a lower percentage of shots from outside.
Senior April Thomas has led the Lady Govs down the stretch, averaging 16.0 points and 11.2 rebounds per game while making 50 percent of her field goals during the OVC schedule's second half. Sophomore Ashley Herring has chipped in, averaging 11.4 points per game during the same stretch and making 41.2 percent of her three-point field goals.
A GLANCE AT MOREHEAD STATE
Morehead State has won three of its last four regular-season outings, including a 72-50 romp at Tennessee Martin, Saturday. The Eagles lone loss in the last two weeks was a 75-71 decision at Murray State, Feb. 26.
Morehead State will counter Austin Peay's offense with one of the league's best defenses. The Eagles limited conference opponents to 62.2 points per game, ranking third in that category. MSU limited OVC opponents to a league-worst 35.5 percent field-goal shooting. Offensively, the Eagles are the Lady Govs' counterpoint, attempting a league-high 43.4 percent of their shots from beyond the three-point line, where they have made 32.0 percent of those attempts.
Sophomore Chynna Bozeman led the Eagles during conference play, averaging 16.8 points per conference outing and ranking fifth in OVC scoring. Junior Brittany Pittman finished the OVC slate fifth in rebounding ? behind APSU's Thomas ? averaging 9.6 caroms per game. However, Pittman's biggest threat comes on the defensive end where she led the nation with 5.7 blocks per game.
Coming Up... OVC SEMIFINAL CONTEST
The Austin Peay-Morehead State winner will advance to meet the winner of the Murray State-Jacksonville State contest, March 6, in the OVC Women's Basketball Championship semifinals. Austin Peay was swept by Murray State in the regular-season series and split its series with Jacksonville State ? winning in Clarksville and losing in Jacksonville.
