NORMAL, Ill. - Austin Peay State University women's basketball team dropped a close contest against Illinois State, 61-49, Tuesday, at Redbird Arena. 

The Governors (4-5) only turned the ball over eight times as they looked for their first road victory of the season.

The Govs got off to a great start, with Brandi Ferby and Maggie Knowles hitting threes on back-to-back possessions that kickstarted an 8-0 run for the Govs. Unfortunately, Ferby picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter shortly after. Nieja Crawford came off the bench and provided a spark, scoring a bucket, recording three rebounds, and dishing out an assist to Knowles for her second three of the quarter. The Govs held the lead after the first frame for the third consecutive game.

The Redbirds (3-4) went on a 10-0 run to start the second quarter to go up six, but a big three from Brianah Ferby cut the lead back down to three and the Govs' defense tightened from there on out. The Govs held the Redbirds to only scoring one of their last eight shots in the half. Down four with less than a minute to go, Crawford hit a pair of free throws and Keisha Gregory stole the ball and went in for an easy layup as the Govs headed to halftime tied at 27.

Going into the game, the focus for the Govs was going to be stopping Tete Maggett and Simone Goods for the Redbirds. Each player had nine points in the first half, but the Govs implemented a press specifically designed to deny Maggett the ball in the back court that was used much more at the start of the third quarter. However, Goods found some more room and routinely drew fouls and grabbed rebounds on either end of the floor. Coming into the contest at around 60 percent from the free-throw line, Goods went 10-for-11 from the stripe, with more makes and attempts than the entire Austin Peay team.

The Govs started out the third quarter with promise, getting four offensive rebounds on their first four possessions and holding the Redbirds to just two attempts from the floor in the first four minutes. A three-pointer from Myah Leflore and a layup off an offensive board for Gregory gave the Govs their largest lead at six points. The Redbirds finally woke up and tied the game back up at 38 before Arielle Gonzalez-Varner stuffed Maggett and then hit a three-pointer on the other end. The Redbirds led by two with just four seconds to play when Brianah Ferby took the inbounds pass off a made free throw, drove the length of the floor, and made a layup as she got fouled. Ferby completed the three-point play with 0.1 seconds left to give the Govs a one-point advantage heading to the fourth.

The Redbirds took the lead early in the fourth before a huge Gregory three put the Govs back up by two. The Redbirds then turned to their two stars in Maggett and Goods, with the latter having eight points in the final frame. Goods finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds. After Crawford hit a free throw with 6:28 remaining, the Redbirds' defense stifled. The Govs did not score again until the 1:14 mark, with the Redbirds up nine. The Govs were called for fouls early in the fourth that sent Illinois State to the bonus for the rest of the game with six minutes remaining. Gonzalez-Varner fouled out in the midst of a 13-1 run by the Redbirds as the Govs could not keep pace in the quarter.

The Govs return to action by hosting Alabama A&M, 2 p.m., Sunday.

Notably

• Brianah Ferby was the lone Gov in double figures, with 10 points
• The Govs scored only five points in the fourth quarter, a season-low
• The Govs have shot better than their season percentage in free throw percentage in four straight games
• After today's game, the Govs are now 0-2 all-time against the Redbirds
• Brandi Ferby and Keisha Gregory are the only two Govs to start every game this season
• There were 10 lead changes in the game, the most in a game this season for the Govs

Midlick's Musings

"It was a tie game going into the last media timeout and the difference was their half-court defense. They stayed in front of us, made it extremely difficult to get good looks at the basket, and scored just enough points to win. Goods (Illinois State) came through for them in the final few minutes. They looked for her and we did not have an answer on the offensive end, but I give my team a lot of credit for fighting. It was the second end of a back-to-back and it was a tie game after 35 minutes, but the other team just finished it a little bit better than we did."