Box Score By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
HUTCHINSON, Kan – Facing the defending national champions on the road, the Murray State Lady Aggies put in a gutsy effort for four quarters and even had a shot at the victory before dropping a 69-68 thriller to top-ranked Hutchinson College Saturday night.

It was the Blue Dragons' 41^st consecutive victory after running the table a season ago, but the streak was in serious jeopardy until the final buzzer thanks to a dramatic second half rally by Coach Nate Levine's troops. Murray State fell to 4-1 while Hutchinson improved to 4-0 on the season.

Olivia Quapaw's putback try from just outside the lane rimmed out as time expired as Hutchinson survived a brilliant Murray comeback from 21 points down in the third period.

As Hutchinson looked to pull away in the opening half, the Lady Aggies showed their prowess with a dandy 10-0 scoring flurry that included five points from Keshanti Gordon and a conventional three-point play from Mya Cotto.

The hosts shook off that Murray State run with a 24-9 burst to close the first half with a 42-31 cushion at the break.

That advantage expanded to as much as 21 points during the third stanza as the Blue Dragons began to flex their muscle, but the Lady Aggies remained undeterred. They finished the third with the final two points from Cotto to trim the deficit to 61-42.

Levine's squad continued its pressure into the fourth quarter, forcing four turnovers that were each turned into transition points. Three pointers from Arissa Garcia and Cotto helped narrow the gap, but it was Mireia Casas' layup with just 3:37 left that got the margin under double digits.

Quapaw sank two free throws before Hutchinson's final points on a layup with three minutes remaining to make it 69-60. Transition buckets from Quapaw and Garcia continued to cut the deficit and Casas drilled a trey with 40 seconds left that narrowed it to just two points.

Following a defensive stop and Afu rebound, Garcia was fouled and hit one of two free throws. Quapaw rebounded the miss on the second toss and got an open look from just outside the lane but the shot rimmed out at the buzzer.

Four Lady Aggies dropped double-digit point totals, fueled by a season-high 20 from Garcia, who connected on six of nine from the field and pulled down eight rebounds. Quapaw finished with 11 points, eight coming in the final period, while Casas and Cotto tallied 10 apiece.

Afu narrowly missed a double-double with seven points to go along with a game-high 11 rebounds. Gordon ended with five points, Taja Bennett had three and Jordyn McNeal added two.

"I thought we came in at the beginning of the game and matched them blow for blow," Levine said. "Then they went on a bit of a run, but down the stretch in the fourth quarter we defended at an extremely high level. We beat them 26-8 in the fourth and that was a direct reflection of our experience and toughness."

Murray State returns home for its next action Wednesday to face Panola College at 5:30 p.m. inside Beames Fieldhouse.