Updated Bracket

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Senior Tyler Phelion poured in a season-best 24 points as Jacksonville State women's basketball team beat Morehead State for the third time this season, 69-56, in first round action of the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
 
Phelion's 24 points came just one shy of her career mark set last season, and were the most points scored by a Gamecock in the OVC Tournament since Freddricka Embry tallied 25 against Eastern Kentucky in 2004.
 
Only Phelion and fellow seniors Gretchen Morrison and Leah Strain entered Thursday's matchup with MSU having played in the OVC Tournament before, with the trio doing so as freshmen in 2015 in JSU's last postseason trip. That didn't stop the Gamecocks who led wire-to-wire in handing the fifth-seeded Eagles their third loss of the season to JSU.
 
With the win, JSU (19-11, 12-6 OVC) matched the program's Division I school record for wins in a single season, tying that 2014-15 squad that featured Phelion, Morrison and Strain as freshmen. It become's the first time Jax State has advanced in the league tournament since 2014 when they topped SIUE and Tennessee Tech, before falling to Belmont in the semifinals under the tournament's old format that required lower seeds to play four games in four days.
 
MSU finished the season 21-11, after totaling the second-most overall wins in the conference. The team with the most, Belmont, will be JSU's next opponent on Friday. The two-time reigning OVC Tournament champions have won their last 44 games against OVC opponents. The Bruins have been the team that sent JSU home in its last two postseason trips in 2014 and 2015, but as JSU head coach Rick Pietri pointed out during Thursday's postgame press conference, "that's why you play the game."
 
In addition to Phelion's game-high 24 points, Chloe Long added a season-best 12 points off the bench as the league's most balanced offensive attack saw 10 players reach the scoring column.
 
JSU began the game on an 8-0 run, before MSU cut it back to an 8-6 score midway through the opening period. Senior Ki-Ki Patterson's big three near the end of the quarter halted the Eagles' comeback momentum and gave Jax State a 19-12 advantage heading into the second.
 
MSU again threatened in the second, pulling within one at 25-24, before Jayla Walker and Taylor Hawks had back-to-back treys on consecutive possessions to build the Gamecock cushion once more. Jax State led by six at the half, and extended its lead to double-digits for the first time near the end of the third quarter at 49-39.
 
The Gamecocks locked down on defense in the fourth and held off a couple of late pushed by the blue and gold to win after leading wire-to-wire for the second-straight game.
 
JSU returns to the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind., at 1p.m. on Friday to face top-seeded and 22nd-ranked Belmont in the semifinals. JSU has never advanced to the championship game since joining the OVC in 2004.