CINCINNATI– Xavier topped Morehead State 71-66 Tuesday night and in the process recorded its 150th win at Cintas Center. Jessica Pachko matched a career-high 14 points and earned her second consecutive double-double with a new career-high 15 rebounds.
The Musketeers earned back-to-back victories for the first time this season and improve their record to 3-4. Morehead falls to 2-7 in the early stages of its season. XU evened the all-time series record at 4-4 versus MSU.
This marked the first time in the season that five different players recorded double figures. Junior forward Amber Gray tallied a career-high 14 points from 5-of-8 shooting and freshman forward Liz Stratman posted career-highs in points (11) and rebounds (7).
Senior Tyeasha Moss dropped her routine 13 points and added four assists. Sophomore guard Lynette Holmes contributed 12 points in the XU victory and sophomore Ashley Wanninger had a season-high five assists in her first career start.
Linda Dixon of MSU had a game-high 19 points and teammate Allie Turner shot 5-of-11 from behind the arc to keep the game close.
XU pulled away at the end with three-consecutive stops in the final two minutes and Gray sunk a pair of free throws to give XU the 68-61 lead. The game featured 10 ties and 13 lead changes, with the final lead coming at the seven-minute mark when Gray drove for a layup.
Xavier had a slim margin at half with a 34-33 lead over Morehead State. Holmes led Xavier with eight points at the break.
The Musketeers distributed the ball well in the first period as they had eight assists and had four different players with five or more points. XU shot well in the first half, as it shot 50 percent (14-of-28) and held Morehead to 34.5 percent (10-of-29).
Xavier was down early, but after a 9-0 run capped by a layup and free throw by Holmes to give it the 16-15 midway through the first half.
Xavier concludes its five-game home stand with a match up against Middle Tennessee on Friday Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at Cintas Center.
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