Second-half woes doom Lady Govs at Vanderbilt

November 29, 2012 |

NASHVILLE – Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team suffered through one of its worst halves in recent history, scoring nine second-half points in a 67-36 loss to Vanderbilt, Wednesday night at Memorial Gymnasium.

Austin Peay (1-5) was just 3-of-28 (10.7 percent) from the floor in the second half and had two stretches where it missed 13 consecutive shots. Only four Lady Govs scored in the period, including freshman Tiasha Gray who hit one of her four three-pointers in the period.

Despite the Lady Govs shooting woes, Vanderbilt (4-3) could only build an 11-point lead in the opening 10 minutes. It took a 16-0 run over a stretch of four minutes later in the half to expand its lead to 28 points.

“It was definitely the tale of two halves,” said Lady Govs head coach Carrie Daniels. “I thought we rushed some things in the second half. But you have to give Vanderbilt credit. They picked up the pressure and forced us out of where we wanted to run our offense. We got away from what was working for us in the first half.”

Austin Peay’s second half woes overshadowed a first-half performance that saw it keep pace with homestanding Vanderbilt. The Lady Govs did trail by nine points with 5:13 left in the period, but Gray hit two of her three point shots in that final stretch, the latter cutting the deficit to two points, 27-25, with 1:27 left.

The Lady Govs tied the game on its next possession thanks to senior Kaitlyn Hill‘s turnaround hook shot. However, the Commodores took a 29-27 halftime lead after Clair Watkins’ layup.

Gray led Austin Peay with a career-best 12 points, making 4-of-6 from three-point range. Hill was next on the Lady Govs scoring list with six points.

Tiffany Clarke led Vanderbilt with 19 points and seven rebounds. The Commodores shot just 39.6 percent from the floor, but easily outpaced the Lady Govs 23.2 percent shooting effort.

Austin Peay will return to the floor when it hosts Ball State at 5:15 p.m. Saturday at the Dunn Center.

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