Despite struggling offensively early on, the Murray State Lady Aggies found the answer in the third period and then stifled Northern Oklahoma College-Enid over the final 11 minutes to rally for a 51-40 road win Monday night and remain unbeaten in conference play.
Trailing 37-35 with a minute remaining in the third quarter, Coach Steve Lowe's club turned up the defensive intensity and yielded only one field goal and one free throw the rest of the way to up their record to 6-3 overall and 2-0 in league going into the Thanksgiving break. NOC-Enid was just 1 for 14 from the field over that final 11-minute stretch and committed five turnovers, including a pair of crucial steals and a charge taken by sophomore guard Mattie Busby.
Bella Peterson provided the bulk of the Murray State offense around the paint over the first two stanzas, scoring 14 of the team's 19 first half points as they trailed 25-19 at the break.
The Lady Aggies gradually closed the gap during a 19-point third frame, doubling their first half offensive output in just 10 minutes. Lanie Gooch tossed in a team-high eight points in the stanza, including a tying bucket and then free throw with 3.4 seconds left that gave Murray State the lead for good at 38-37.
Reese Webb opened the final quarter with a driving basket, but the Lady Aggies managed only a free throw themselves over the next five and a half minutes as neither team could connect. Gooch's bucket with 3:45 left made it a 43-39 edge before three straight huge defensive stops by Murray State.
Busby had a steal, drew a charge and then was followed by a Peterson blocked shot and rebound with 2:06 remaining before notching her first basket of the second half moments later with a layup.
Following a Lady Jet free throw to narrow the margin to 45-40, the Lady Aggies came up with the clinching dagger on a driving shot by Tamara Fournillier as the shot clock expired with 55 seconds to play. Gooch and Busby then wrapped up the final margin by combining to go 4-for-4 at the charity stripe in the closing seconds.
Peterson led all scorers in the game with 17 for Murray State. Gooch tallied all 13 of her points after intermission. Webb also reached double figures with 10 points. Busby added six, Fournillier and Remi Langmaid each checked in with two and Payton James had one point.
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