MOREHEAD, Ky. – Playing its third game of a four-game road stretch, University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball came up short in a tough away battle at Morehead State University on Tuesday night, 73-62.
 
USI Women's Basketball (19-9, 13-6 OVC) jumped out to a 14-11 lead through the first quarter and went into halftime tied at 30, but the host Morehead State Eagles (18-12, 13-6 OVC) came away with the second-half advantage in a competitive ballgame to capture the contest.
 
The Screaming Eagles were led in scoring Tuesday by senior guard Ali Saunders and junior forward Chloe Gannon. Saunders had a team-high 21 points with five assists, while Gannon totaled 19 points with seven rebounds.
 
As a team, USI shot for 41 percent (25-61) from the floor with five three-pointers and went 7-10 for 70 percent at the free-throw line. USI had 20 fast-break points and outscored Morehead State in the paint, 40-20.
 
Morehead State had four players score in double figures. The Eagles shot the ball well for 52 percent (22-42) overall, 48 percent (12-25) from three-point range, and 81 percent (17-21) from the charity stripe. Morehead State had a slight edge on the glass, 29-27.
 
After two scoreless minutes to start the game, USI scored the game's first four points before Morehead State knocked down two three-pointers to take a 6-4 lead. Saunders quickly answered with a three-pointer of her own to put USI back in front. Saunders later went on her own 5-0 run to push the Screaming Eagles ahead by four, 12-8, with two minutes left in the first. USI ended up with a 14-11 advantage through the first 10 minutes of play.
 
The game was tied at 18 two minutes into the second quarter, but then Morehead State went on a 10-0 run over four minutes to lead 28-18 by the four-minute mark of the second period. The Screaming Eagles answered and charged back with a 12-2 run to finish the first half. While Saunders knocked down another triple, junior guard Shannon Blacher sparked the run with seven points in the final few minutes to help bring USI back and tie the game at 30 going into halftime.
 
The competitive ballgame continued into the second half. Morehead State built a six-point lead by the six-minute mark of the third quarter, but Saunders answered with back-to-back buckets to pull USI back to within a possession. The two sides would exchange blows down the stretch of the third quarter. Even though Morehead State heated up from beyond the arc, Gannon scored eight points in the last four minutes of the quarter. The back-and-forth battle went to the fourth quarter with Morehead State in front by only three points, 51-48.
 
Gannon picked up where she left off in the third quarter by starting the fourth frame with a three-point play, converting to tie the game, 51-51. A little bit later, Morehead State netted another pair of threes toward an 8-0 run to create a 61-52 lead with seven minutes to go. USI went on a scoring drought for nearly four minutes in the middle of the fourth quarter. After Morehead State increased its lead to 10, 64-54, redshirt sophomore guard Kylee Dennis scored five straight points to cut the deficit in half. The Screaming Eagles got the deficit down to four in the final 90 seconds before Morehead State converted at the free-throw line for seven points to close out the contest.
 
With Tuesday's result, the two teams moved into a tie for third place with each other in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. Despite one regular-season game remaining, Tuesday's result also locked USI into a single-round bye and either as the third or fourth seed in next week's OVC Tournament. To secure the third seed, USI needs Morehead State to lose at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Thursday, while USI must defeat the Trojans on the road on Saturday. Despite a regular-season series split, Morehead State owns a tiebreaker over USI in win-loss record against the higher-seeded teams.
 
The Screaming Eagles wrap up the regular season on Saturday with a road trip to Little Rock. Saturday's tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. and can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+ and heard on The Spin 95.7 FM.