Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Morehead State
Herd Women Battle Past Morehead State, 66-53
11/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2005
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Marshall held Morehead State without a field goal for the final seven minutes of the game, until a desperation 3-pointer fell with 10 seconds remaining, to fight past the Lady Eagles 66-53 in women's basketball action at Johnson Arena on Wednesday.
Prior to the Megen Gearhart deep trey, LaKrisha Brown's go ahead layin at 7:10 was the last field goal Morehead State (3-1) would muster as Marshall ran away from the Lady Eagles to snap a two-game losing streak. A Jill Justice (Lewisburg, W.Va.) 3-pointer at the 3:17 mark of the second half opened the flood gates for Marshall (3-2), as it went on a game-ending 24-9 run after Brown's field goal.
Senior Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (Houston, Texas) took leading scorer honors for Marshall with 15 points. Crystal Champion (Washington, D.C.) netted 14 points and Reshundra Smiley (Modesto, Calif.) registered 11 points.
MSU's Brown scored 18 points with a career-high 18 rebounds while Gearhart and Anitha Smith-Williams scored 12 apiece.
The Herd was held scoreless for the first 3:10 of the second half until Shepard-Hall scored back-to-back fast break layins to keep the Herd lead after MSU closed the gap to one point. After exchanging buckets for the next seven-plus minutes, the Lady Eagles managed to knot the game at 42-42 when Gearhart nailed two-straight treys.
Turnovers marred the next several minutes, keeping the game tied until Brown sank a jumper in the post. Marshall quickly answered with a sleek Kendra King (Fairfax, Va.) layin and a Champion drive to the goal for a layin plus a foul. She hit her free throw to bump the Herd lead to three.
Marshall jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead to start the game after Shepard-Hall scored an easy layup off the tip, followed by a Modupe Ishola (Washington, D.C.) block that was transitioned into another Shepard-Hall layin while being fouled. The Herd shot 50 percent from the floor in the opening frame, but had trouble at the free-throw line by going only 4-of-10. Ishola finished the contest with a team-high 13 rebounds.
Smith-Williams sank three first-half 3-pointers for 10 points off the bench to keep the Lady Eagles within five, 31-26, at halftime.
Junior Teyonka Hodge (Washington, D.C.) made her season debut by coming off the bench at the 6:18 mark of the first half. She quickly made her presence known by coming up with a steal in the post a minute later and a nice assist on a kick-out for a Champion jumper. She finished with six points and a game-high seven assists.
New Morehead State head coach Matthew Mitchell was dealt the first loss of his coaching career on Wednesday, as the Lady Eagles drop to 3-1 on the season. MSU had been averaging 90.0 points per contest coming into the game, but was stymied by a quick Herd defense that forced 15 MSU turnovers.
The win was Marshall's fourth straight over Morehead State, and third straight at Johnson Arena. The Herd has taken the last 11 of 14 meetings in the series.
Shepard-Hall's 15 points moved her into fifth place on Marshall's all-time scoring list, surpassing Karla May (1982-86). The senior now has 1,220 points in her career.
Marshall will return home for a Friday night rematch with Binghamton at the Cam Henderson Center. The Bearcats dealt the Herd its worst loss of 2004-05, falling by 25 points to BU in the Binghamton Time Warner Classic. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
