NASHVILLE - Austin Peay State University women's basketball team survived a long second-half drought before downing Murray State, 71-64, in the Ohio Valley Conference Women's Basketball Championships first round, Wednesday at Municipal Auditorium.

Fifth-seeded Austin Peay (14-17) built a 19-point, 48-29, lead with 18:30 remaining in the second half. But that advantage nearly proved to be not large enough as the Lady Govs offense cooled off and then went cold later in the period.

Eighth-seeded Murray State (9-21) whittled away at APSU's lead over the next five minutes, trimming it to 12 points, 52-40, with 13:53 left.

Austin Peay scored the game's next basket on senior Dalila Thomas' jumper at the 13:15 mark which pushed the APSU lead back to 14 points. However, the Lady Govs would score just one field goal - another layup by Thomas at the 8:32 mark - over the next 8:32.

The Racers took advantage of the Lady Govs' offensive woes, using a 16-2 scoring run over that same span to tie the game, 56-56, with 5:52 remaining. Murray State was 7-of-12 from the field during the run with five different players contributing field goals.

The Lady Govs finally stemmed the rush with the game's next five points - two on junior Whitney Hanley's layup and three more on junior Jasmine Rayner's conventional three-point play - to push the lead back to five points. Murray State tied the game again, 61-61, with 2:34 left but could not find the basket that would give it the lead. Rayner scored a layup with 2:05 remaining to keep APSU ahead and the Lady Govs made eight of their 11 free throws in the final 2:05 to secure the victory.

Murray State scored eight of the game's first 10 points and led 8-2 just four minutes into the contest. The Lady Govs were just 1-of-6 from the field in the game's first 4:09, but made six of their next nine field goals as they scored 14 consecutive points to take a 16-8 lead.

But Austin Peay got even hotter from there, making 11 of its 16 field goals in the final 12 minutes, turning that 16-8 lead into a 43-28 halftime advantage. The Lady Govs  finished the period 18-of-31 (58.1 percent) from the field, including 6-of-9 (66.7 percent) from three-point range.

The Lady Govs cooled off considerably in the second half, helped by that eight-plus minute drought, making just nine second-half field goals and shooting 39.1 percent in the period. Still, Austin Peay made 50 percent (27-of-54) of its field goals in the game.

Senior guard Brooke Faulkner tied a career-high with 20 points in the victory, making 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range. Rayner added 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds. Thomas added 12 points.

Hanley, who returned following an illness that forced her to miss Saturday's regular-season finale, had an all round effort, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds, a career-high seven assists, three blocked shots and three steals in 35 minutes.

Murray State's Mariah Robinson led all scorers with 28 points on 9-of-22 shooting. Jessica Winfrey added a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double effort.

Austin Peay advances to play fourth-seeded Eastern Illinois in a noon, Thursday quarterfinal contest.

-AP-