JONESBORO, Ark. - Chrissy Givens scored a career-high 32 points to help Middle Tennessee women's basketball (9-6, 2-0 SBC) to a 66-65 win over Arkansas State (6-9, 0-2 SBC) Thursday in the Convocation Center. The final 1:23 of the game was a flurry of activity and it all began with a Givens jumper to tie the game at 62. The Lady Indians answered with a monster three-pointer by Amber Abraham to give Arkansas State a one-point lead 65-64.
It was no surprise that in the final 20 seconds of the game the ball was in Givens' hands, as it had been all night. Givens hit a 15-foot jumper with 13 seconds remaining to give Middle Tennessee the lead.
Arkansas State made a last ditch effort as the Lady Indians' Abraham took a shot but it rolled off the rim and Tia Stovall pulled down her 10th rebound of the night. Stovall dribbled the ball from underneath the bucket and the time expired. Arkansas State players and fans were stunned to silence as the Blue Raiders celebrated their first Sun Belt road win of the season.
Middle Tennessee and Arkansas State battled through most of the first half, and the Lady Indians led by as much as five three times. Down by three with under a minute to play, Givens pulled the Blue Raiders to within one, 33-32, when she hit a jumper with 59 seconds in the first half. Givens ended the first half with 20 points.
Arkansas State came out in the second half and went on a 13-4 run to build a 10-point lead with 15:30 remaining in the game. The Blue Raiders looked shell shocked and out of their element.
Middle Tennessee was down, but not out. The Blue Raiders started to chip away at the Lady Indian lead thanks to a jumper by Monique Martin which cut the Arkansas State lead to eight 46-38. Thanks to a 6-0 run Middle Tennessee cut the Lady Indian lead to four with 12:16 left.
With Arkansas State leading by six with 11 minutes remaining, Johnna Abney drained back-to-back two three-pointes to tie the game at 50 with nine minutes left. Although there were two more ties in the final eight minutes of the game, Middle Tennessee never led until 40 seconds left in the game.
Givens not only poured in her career-high 32 points but she also had seven rebounds, five assists and was 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Abney recorded her third double figure scoring effort of her career with 12 points in the game.
Middle Tennessee's win at Arkansas State is the first win in the Convocation center since 2003. The Blue Raiders continue their road swing on Saturday when the squad takes on Arkansas-Little Rock. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
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