Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Western Kentucky
Ezeigbo's, Scott's Double-Doubles Not Enough at WKU
2/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- The Marshall women's basketball team got double-double efforts from Chukwuka Ezeigbo and Leah Scott, but it wasn't enough Saturday, as host Western Kentucky downed Marshall 74-60 at E.A. Diddle Arena.
WKU improved to 21-4 and 10-2 in Conference USA with the win, while Marshall fell to 14-9 and 6-6 in the league.
The Lady Hilltoppers were led by Alexis Govan's double-double output of 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Chastity Gooch had 14 points, Tashia Brown had 11 and Micah Jones had 10. Kendall Noble contributed six assists (and no turnovers) and Govan (4) and Ileana Johnson (3) combined for 7 of the team's 11 steals.
MU's Ezeigbo had her 12th double-double of the season, and third in her last four games, with 12 points and 14 rebounds. The 14 caroms are one off the career-high she set earlier in the season against WKU. Scott had 10 points and 10 rebounds, AJ Johnson had 4 -pointers for 12 points. Norrisha Victrum also finished in double-digits with 10.
Aja Sorrells finished with a career-high five assists and Scott and Victrum posted three as well.
The Lady Hilltoppers churned out to a 23-10 lead at the 8:09 mark of the first half on a layup by Johnson, but the was nearly dead even from that point on.
Marshall chopped the margin to 6 (38-32) on a Sorrells jumper with 19:07 left in the game and again at the 9:42 mark (56-50) on a layup by Kiana Evans. WKU regained control, however, and pushed the margin to as many as 19 (74-55) with 1:19 left before a 3-pointer by Marshall's Enjonae Chambers and an Ezeigbo accounted for the final margin.
"Western was able to get to the free throw line against our zone far more than we could against their man-to-man," said Marshall head coach Matt Daniel. "Give credit to them, though, they have two of the best players in the conference in Gooch and Govan. They had 19 and 14 and we did all we could against them."
Western made 16 of its 21 free throw attempts, while Marshall made 4 of its 6.
At game's end, Marshall held a 30-28 advantage on points in the paint. Though both teams finished with 13 offensive rebounds, WKU posted 17 second-chance points, to the Herd's 6.
Marshall will be back in action Thursday as Middle Tennessee visits at 11 a.m. and UAB comes to Huntington Saturday at 1 p.m.
