Senior Miranda Crockett posted her third double-double of the season and also moved to third place on Morehead State's career scoring list as the women's basketball team built a hefty lead and then hung on a 73-70 win at Tennessee Tech Thursday.
With the victory, the Eagles (20-9/11-5) accomplished a trio of critical items.
They claimed the season series from Tech (19-8/11-5) for the third consecutive season and moved back into a tie for second place in the OVC. The Eagles currently hold the tiebreaker between themselves, Tech and UT Martin by going 3-0 against those two foes.
MSU also reached 20 wins in a season for the third straight time - the first such occurrence in program history. It also is just the sixth time in program history with 11 league victories.
But it didn't come easy. It appeared to be a runaway, even into the second half, but it turned into a fight until the final horn
Crockett scored 21 points and corralled 10 rebounds, including 16 markers in the first half when the Eagles built a 39-24 cushion . She now has 1,726 career points for third place, passing Donna Stephens (1978-82). Graduate transfer McKenzie Calvert actually paced the visitors with 23 points, her 11th double figure game in the last 13.
"I thought we came out really tuned in to detail, and we attacked the basket," said head coach Greg Todd." You just don't knock a good team completely out on their home floor, we knew they would eventually make a run. Wow, did they make a run in the fourth quarter. But, I didn't see faces on our team just give up. They kept chipping, chipping and chipping away at us, but we found a way to pull it out in the end.
"Miranda is such a tough player to defend, especially when they had a smaller defender on her. They made a switch and kind of cooled her off. It was a good effort by her."
After running out to a 23-7 lead after the first quarter, the Eagles cruised to as much as a 23-point lead (55-32) with 3:28 left in the third quarter before Tech stormed back. The Golden Eagles hit 9-of-14 (64 percent) in the final quarter and outscored the Eagles 31-16.
TTU was within one (69-68) with just 27 seconds left before senior Darianne Seward drained two free throws. With MSU holding the 71-68 lead, a foul on the Eagles gave TTU's Jordan Brock two free tosses, which she nailed both.
The hosts fouled immediately, and Jaleesa Avery was true on both the ensuing free throws. A last ditch three-pointer by Brock was very close, but went awry, to seal MSU's win.
MSU won the rebounding battle, 51-38, as senior Tierra McGowan secured her 12th double-digit effort with 10 boards.
The Eagles can hold onto the OVC Tournament second seed with victories in their final two regular season games. The first comes Thursday when Murray State visits for a 5:05 p.m. ET start.
