MOREHEAD, Ky. – SIUE Women's basketball opened strong Thursday night but could not hold off Morehead State, falling 64-60.
 
SIUE drops to 10-11 overall and 3-8 in Ohio Valley Conference play, while MSU improves to 13-9 overall and 8-3 in OVC play.
 
Kiyoko Proctor led the Cougars with 16 points, shooting a perfect 4-4 from the line. Syanne Mohamed recorded her second career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, adding three assists and three blocks. Miller also scored in double figures with 10 points and grabbing five rebounds, while Ava Gugliuzza finished with nine points, knocking down three shots from beyond the arc.
 
 
The Cougars dominated the opening quarter, jumping out to an 11-0 lead after Mohamed opened the scoring and Kendal George knocked down her first three-pointer of the contest with 2:55 remaining. MSU did not score until a late layup closed the first quarter.
 
MSU started the second quarter with a scoring drought lasting 2:53. Meanwhile Proctor sparked a six-point SIUE run with a step-back three, followed by a triple from Adriana Blazquez and a late layup from Mohamed to give the Cougars a 30-23 lead at halftime.
 
Coming out of the break, Gugliuzza came buried two threes – including one deep from the sideline in front of the SIUE bench – to push the Cougars' lead to a game-high 14 points (45-31).  
 
Morehead state responded late in the third quarter, using a layup from Josefiene Enader to ignite a 15-2 run that trimmed SIUE's lead to just one point heading into the fourth.
 
The Eagles carried that momentum into the final period with an 8-0 run. Landon Forbed drained a thee-pointer two minutes into the quarter to give MSU its first lead of the game. Proctor answered with a three of her own at the seven-minute mark to briefly put SIUE back in from, 55-54, but the Cougars went scoreless over the next three minutes as the Eagles built a seven-point cushion. Forbes sealed the win at the free-throw line in the final three seconds.
 
As a team, SIUE shot 44.7 percent from the field, 40.9 percent from three-point range, and 81.8 percent at the free-throw line. Morehead State shot 37.7 percent overall, 28.6 percent from deep, and 75.0 percent from the line.
 
Up next, SIUE remains on the road taking on Southern Indiana Jan. 31 at 5 p.m.