MONDAY’S SCORES
@Southern Mississippi 79, Tennessee State 57
Texas-Pan American 59, @UT Martin 48
@Louisville 72, Austin Peay 42
SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI 79, TENNESSEE STATE 57
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Tennessee State University women’s basketball team fell to Southern Mississippi 79-57 on the road Monday night in Reed Green Coliseum.
Tennessee State falls to 1-1 while Southern Mississippi moves to 2-0 on the season.
Tiffany Jackson finished the game with 23 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double while Tequila Martin came off the bench to add 10 points and seven boards for the Lady Tigers.
Five Eagles scored in double-digits led by Stephanie Helgeson’s 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Following the opening tip, Tennessee State went for nearly two minutes without scoring a basket and quickly fell behind 6-0. The Lady Tigers got on the board at the 18:03 mark but the Eagles had stretched the advantage to 12-2 before the first media timeout. Two three-pointers and a lay-up swelled the USM lead to 29-7 before went into the break with a commanding 41-15 lead.
Tiffany Jackson had 11 points for Tennessee State at the half while as a team the Lady Tigers shot 25 percent from the field (7-of-28) and were 0-of-7 from beyond the arc.
USM outscored TSU 9-5 in the opening four minutes of the second half to build the lead to 50-20. The Lady Tigers cut the deficit down to 21 points (61-40) at the 8:17 mark but two break-away lay-ups by the Eagles put USM back on top 70-41. TSU made small runs down the stretch and outscored USM 42-38 in the second half but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.
TSU improved its shooting in the second half knocking down 12-of-30 shots (40 %) but only managed a shooting percentage of 20% (2-of-10) from beyond the arc.
The Lady Tigers return to action this weekend when they participate in the Fifth Third Classic hosted by Marshall University. TSU will face Marshall on Friday before matching-up with either Morgan State or Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.
LOUISVILLE 72, AUSTIN PEAY 42
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team got off to a slow start and found itself deep in a hole it could not climb out of and fell to No. 10 Louisville, 72-42, Monday night, at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
Austin Peay (1-1) did not score a field goal until the 13:21 mark of the first half, a put-back by sophomore Ashley Herring off her own miss. But by then, the Cardinals had flown the coop, scoring 12 straight points to start the game and led 12-2 after Herring’s basket.
Louisville (2-0) promptly rattled off the next 16 points, extending its lead to 28-2, before Austin Peay posted its second field goal, a three-pointer by Herring with 4:19 remaining. Herring seemed to gain some confidence from that basket, scoring eight of her 11 first-half points in the final 4:19. However, one person would not be enough against the Cardinals as they took a 35-13 lead into halftime.
Confidence, or the lack of it, punctuated the Lady Govs first-half performance. They made just five of their 25 field-goal attempts (19.2 percent) in the opening frame. And it wasn’t for a lack of quality attempts ? Austin Peay had 16 shots inside the three-point arc, including 12 inside of six feet, but could not pry the lid off the basket.
Louisville pressed its advantage and pushed its lead past 30 points, 46-15, less than four minutes into the second half. A 13-3 Austin Peay run slashed that advantage to 21 points, 60-39, with 5:48 remaining, but the Lady Govs could not get any closer.
The offense recovered from its first half lethargy, with six different Austin Peay players finding paydirt. The statistics showed the improved confidence as well as APSU made nine of its 28 attempts (32.1 percent). More importantly that confidence sparked the Lady Govs defense which forced Louisville into 15 second-turnovers, which they converted into 15 points.
Herring led the Lady Govs with 12 points, but converted just 4-of-16 from the field. Junior Nicole Jamen finished with nine points ? all in the second half ? and grabbed nine rebounds.
Monique Reid led Louisville with 17 points and nine rebounds. Preseason All-American Angel McCoughtry finished with 15 points and seven rebounds while playing only 15 minutes.
Austin Peay returns to action when it hosts Troy in a 7 p.m., Friday contest at the Dunn Center.
TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN 59, UT MARTIN 48
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team spent the preseason focusing on defensive pressure and it showed from the start against visiting Texas-Pan American when they forced a shot clock violation on the opening Lady Broncs possession. It wasn't enough though to overcome a tough shooting night on offense as UT Martin fell 59-48 in the season opener. Preseason All-OVC selection Phyllisha Mitchell netted 21 points on the night, while senior Alishia Glover made her return to the court with a 12 point, 10 rebound double-double showing.
Glover announced her return to Pat Head Summitt Court after a redshirt season with a turnaround jumper on her opening shot attempt to net the first points of the season for the Skyhawks. UTPA managed only 14 points in the first 10 minutes of action against the UT Martin defense, but it was still enough to hold a 14-10 lead over the Skyhawks who shot only 33 percent in the first half.
Looking for a combination of players to settle in and support Glover's early spark, Tara Tansil-Gentry had a lineup on the floor that hadn't registered a minute of playing time for the Skyhawks last season by the second media timeout of the game. With that young lineup also came some opening night jitters that resulted in 15 first half turnovers. UT Martin shook off those jitters, after a near six minute scoring drought, when freshman Yolanda Davis beat the shot clock with a jumper from the corner to pull the Skyhawks to within three at 21-18.
UTPA answered back though with a 12-2 run to close out the half that was capped when Epiphany Smith drained a fade away three as the clock expired to push the Lady Broncs ahead by 10, their widest margin of the half, at 35-25 headed into the locker room.
The Skyhawks opened the second half with another defensive stop when Sienna Forney picked the pocket of UTPA's Brittany Demery, then found freshman Allison Wright on the other end of the floor for a three-point bucket that cut the deficit to seven. Freshman Cali Cupples registered her first collegiate points on a three-pointer with 14:39 remaining that pulled the Skyhawks to within six at 39-33 before UTPA mounted a 6-0 run to push its lead to 12, the widest margin of the game.
Mitchell, who scored 15 of her 21 points in the second half, scored back-to-back buckets along with an old-fashioned three-point-play to spark a UT Martin run that cut the Lady Broncs advantage to five with 8:47 remaining. Glover later pulled the game within three at 49-46, with just under six minutes remaining, but that was as close as the Skyhawks could pull the remainder of the game. UTPA closed the game out on a 10-2 run to set the final score at 59-48.
UTPA's Teshay Winfrey led all scores with 23 points on the night. For the Skyhawks, in addition to Mitchell and Glover, Wright finished the night with six points and four rebounds to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds from Sienna Forney.
The Skyhawks will return to action Thursday when they make the first road trip of the season to Music City where they will take on Lipscomb of the Atlantic Sun Conference. UT Martin leads the all-time series with Lipscomb 1-0 and will look to tally its first win of the season on the road.