CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The night started with Austin Peay State University women’s basketball honoring a trio of seniors in the Dunn Center on Senior Night; the night ended with that same trio of seniors punching their fourth-straight ticket to the Ohio Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Championship, as the Governors outlasted Morehead State, 70-65, Thursday.
Austin Peay honored its three seniors – Nieja Crawford, Arielle Gonzalez-Varner, and Gabby Gregory. Crawford and Gonzalez-Varner are both four-year seniors, who spent their entire collegiate career in Clarksville; while Gregory spent her final three seasons as a Governor after transferring in following her freshman season.
Despite it being Senior Night in the Dunn Center, the Governors were led by a freshman, as Ella Sawyer posted a career-high 21 points in the home-finale to lead all scorers. Sawyer did her damage when it mattered most, scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter, including the final nine points of the game for the Govs.
The Governors entered the final week of the season knowing that they need just one win in the final two games to claim their spot in the postseason. But Morehead State was playing for the same reason, as the Eagles sat just a game behind Austin Peay in the OVC standings. It was a physical first quarter, with both teams struggling to score, but a pair of free throws with eight seconds left were the difference, and Morehead State held a 17-15 lead after ten minutes.
It was in the second quarter that the Governors offense erupted for its first of two 22-point quarters in the contest. Just 12 seconds into the quarter, a pair of Brandi Ferby free throws tied the game, as the junior guard scored two of her game-high ten first-half points.
With the Governors leading by one with 6:39 left before halftime, Gonzalez-Varner went on a 7-0 run all by herself. First the senior from Cincinnati converted the old-fashioned there-point play for her first points of the contest. Then Gonzalez-Varner got the hoop and drew the harm once again, but failed to convert the free throw; no worries, she drove hard to the rim for another two points on the next possession to give the Govs an eight-point advantage – their biggest of the day so far.
After the run by Gonzalez-Varner, another Govs senior got in on the action, as Crawford pulled down an offensive rebound after a missed three-point attempt and hit the put back shot for two of her ten points.
With less than a minute left in the first half, a Tahanee Bennell triple gave the Governors their first double-digit lead of the game, but it was short lived as Morehead State hit a pair of free throws on the next possession. However, Brandi Ferby made sure the Governors held a ten-point advantage at the break, slicing through the defense for a layup with eight seconds left on the clock to send the Govs to the break.
On the first possession of the second half, a Gonzalez-Varner steal led to a Sawyer layup, which gave the Governors a 12-point lead – their biggest of the game. But the Eagles fought their way back into it, cutting the lead to seven before a Shay-Lee Kirby three-pointer stretched the lead back to double-digits.
The Kirby three was the 243 three-pointer made by the Governors this season and broke the single-season team three-point record which was previously held by the 2018-19 squad.
But the Kirby triple was the final bucket of the frame for the Governors, as Morehead State went on a 10-0 run to close the third quarter and tie the game at 48.
On the opening possession of the fourth quarter, Morehead State struck first to take their first lead since the 8:29 mark in the second quarter. But a layup and a three-pointer from Sawyer erased the Eagles lead, as the freshman from Australia went on her first 5-0 run of the fourth quarter.
With 2:57 left in the contest, three-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Ariel Kirkwood and Jazzymn Elston erased a five-point Govs lead and put Morehead State back in front by one. But the Governors didn’t trail for long, as Crawford capped off her scoring effort, connecting on a pair of free throws to give her 10 points on her senior night.
Finally, Sawyer began to take over, as her and Elston traded buckets on four-straight possessions to square the game at 65 with 53 seconds left to play. But then the freshman Aussie became too much for Morehead State to handle, as Sawyer closed the game on her second 5-0 run of the quarter to help the Governors claim a 70-65, postseason-clinching victory.
Points in the paint. Morehead State entered the contest as one of the best shot blocking teams in the country and they still blocked six shots in the contest. But the Governors were not afraid to drive into the teeth of the Morehead State defense, and they were rewarded, outscoring the Eagles 40-24 in the paint. The Govs are now 6-1 this season when they score more points in the paint than their opponent.
Austin Peay will travel to Murray State for a 5 p.m., Saturday, tip off in the regular-season finale knowing they have a spot in the postseason, but not knowing which spot. The Governors could be anywhere from the No. 6 to the No. 8 seed at the OVC Women’s Basketball Championship next week; depending on the outcome of the game against the Racers and the outcome of the Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech contest.