The Morehead State Women's Basketball team began Ohio Valley Conference play with a with a 67-48 victory over Jacksonville State on Thursday evening at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles and Gamecocks went back-and-forth in the first half, trading the lead eight times, before settling on a 25-23 advantage for MSU after the opening two quarters.
Morehead State took control of the matchup in the third quarter as it ran off a 17-0 which lasted 6:28. The quarter ended with the Eagles holding a 52-31 advantage over the Gamecocks thanks to a strong defensive effort that held the visitors to 3-of-15 (.200) shooting in the period while the hosts hit on 8-of-13 (.615) shot attempts.
While all eight players that logged minutes for MSU scored, senior forward Jaleesa Avery paced the squad with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Senior guard Breuna Jackson tallied 12 points while junior Jazzmyn Elston notched 11 to round out the Eagles double-figure scorers.
On the glass, Morehead State out rebounded Jacksonville State 45-32. Freshman guard Ariel Kirkwood tied a career-best board total with 14, which was made up of 13 defensive rebounds.
Defensively for the game the Eagles held the Gamecocks to 18-of-62 (.290) shooting - a season-best performance against Division I competition.
Jacksonville State was led in scoring by guard Taylor Hawks game-high 14 points. The loss drops the Gamecocks to 4-8 overall in 2019-20 and 0-1 in league play.
Morehead State moves to 5-8 overall with the win and is 1-0 to open OVC play for the fourth consecutive season.
The Eagles continue conference play at home on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET against Tennessee Tech. The Golden Eagles come to Morehead with a 8-4 overall record and were victors in their OVC opener, defeating Eastern Kentucky 60-42 on Thursday.
