TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Indiana state 78, Southeast Missouri 28
@Lamar 84, UT Martin 54
James Madison 83, @Austin Peay 56
@Baylor 104, Jacksonville State 45
@SMU 79, Eastern Illinois 52
INDIANA STATE 78, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 28
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Redhawks women's basketball team continued to struggle on the road and offensively, falling to Indiana State 72-28 at the Hulman Center on Tuesday evening. The 44-point loss is the Redhawks worst loss since the 1982-83 season and the 28 points scored are lowest point total since the 1976-77 season when that team scored just 24 points.
It was tough for the Redhawks (2-2) from the opening tip as the Sycamores (4-0) scored the game's first four points and never looked back. The Redhawks scored just ten points in the opening period, a team low since moving to Division I play.
After making it a one point game, 7-6 on a Bianca Beck (Incarnate Word/St. Louis, Mo.) layup at the 15:41 mark the Redhawks would not score from the field the remainder of the half as they missed 14-straight shots.
The Sycamores meanwhile built a huge lead as the Redhawks tried to solve their offensive woes. Using runs of 18-0 and 10-0, the Sycamores went up by as much as 27 points, 37-10 on Brittany Schoen's lay-in just before the halftime buzzer.
The Redhawks first half offense came primarily from the charity stripe as the team went 4-6. From the field the Redhawks shot just 3-24 for 12-percent. Among those 19 misses for the Redhawks were 13 three-pointers.
The Sycamores were on a roll offensively and defensively in the first half. They shot 48-percent and outscored the Redhawks 14-2 in the paint and turned nine turnovers into 16 points.
In the second half the Redhawks continued to struggle as they went scoreless for the first 4:47 while the Sycamores built up a 35-point lead, 45-10. Freshman Erika Lane (West High School/Knoxville, Tenn.) stopped the futility with a three-pointer from the top of the key.
That started an 8-0 Redhawks run that cut into the Sycamore lead and made it a 45-18.
That would be as close as the Redhawks would get in the second half as the Sycamores closed out the final 10:34 with a 20-6 run. Megan Burton made a jumper with :35 seconds remaining in the game for the final score and the largest lead of the game.
The 44-point point differential was the most lop-sided loss by the Redhawks since losing 91-44 to Northern Illinois on January 15, 1982. The 28 points scored is the lowest since Memphis won 109-24 during the 1976-77 season.
For the game the Redhawks shot just 19-percent as they made just 11 baskets. Two of those were three-pointers which extended their consecutive three-pointers made streak to 348-straight games.
In the second half the Redhawks went to the line just once as they finished 4-7 for 57-percent.
The Sycamores finished at 51-percent from the field and 73-percent from the line. They dominated the boards 47-28 which they turned into a 14-2 advantage in second-chance points.
Lane led the Redhawks in scoring in just her second collegiate game. She scored seven points off the bench as she went 3-5 from the field.
Beck scored five points and handed out a team-high two assists.
Patricia Mack (Mifflin/Columbus, Ohio.) had a team-high six rebounds in her first collegiate start.
Bailie Roberts (Maryville/Maryville, Tenn.) finished with four points and four rebounds.
The game marked the first time the Redhawks failed to have a double-digit scorer since last Dec. 28 at Missouri.
The Sycamores were paced by All-Missouri Valley selection Kelsey Luna with 15 points. Shannon Thomas scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Ten of her points came in the opening half. Schoen chipped in ten to round out the Sycamore double-digit scorers.
LAMAR 84, UT MARTIN 54
BEAUMONT, Texas - The University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team hit eight three-pointers against Lamar Tuesday night, which is the most since the 2007-08season, but it was not enough as the Cardinals picked up an 84-54 win at home. Six of those three-pointers came from redshirt freshman Cali Cupples, missing the program's single-game record by only one.
Cupples finished the night with a team-best and career-high 21 points. That betters her previous career best of eight points early on during the 2008-09 season before having it cut short by illness. Prior to tonight's breakout performance, she had been held without a field goal on the year.
The Skyhawks finished the night with 21 turnovers, which turned out to be the difference maker as Lamar was able to turn them into 33 points. The Cardinals had three members of the roster tally double digit scoring nights, led by 17 from Jenna Plumley who is a transfer from the University of Oklahoma that started on the 2008 NCAA Tournament team.
To start the game UT Martin netted the opening basket on a Jessica Pace put back to take the early edge. The Skyhawks then used back-to-back three-pointers from Cupples and Paige Smith to take a 10-7 lead at the first media timeout. The Skyhawks stretched their lead to four on a Pace free throw before Jenna Plumley answered for Lamar with a three-pointer of her own.
The Cardinals then used another three-pointer on their next trip down from Ashley Crawford to take the lead back at 13-11 with 13:08 remaining in the half. Alecia Weatherly tied the game at 13-apiece with a jumper in the lane but then Lamar was able to use a 18-5 run over the next six minutes to push its lead out to double digits at 29-18.
In the final two minutes of the half Plumley attempted to push the lead out with back-to-back threes, but Weatherly answered with an old fashion three-point-play and Cupples beat the buzzer with a three from the corner to set the score at 39-26 headed into the halftime break.
At the half UT Martin was shooting nearly 40 percent from the field and Cupples had hit three from behind the arc, but Lamar was connecting on 47 percent of its shots and had forced 11 Skyhawk turnovers.
In the second half Lamar was able to continue its hot shooting and push its lead out to as much as 30 at the game's end. Cupples again was the bright spot for the Skyhawks in the second with three more of her three-pointers. Her first one of the second half cut the lead to only 14 with 17:16 remaining, but that would be the closest that the Skyhawks would draw the rest of the game.
Plumley answered the Cupples three with one of her own from the top of the key, then a free throw from Trashanna Smith pushed the lead out to 20 with 15 minutes remaining. Lamar then pushed its advantage out to 30 at the 9:25 mark before UT Martin cut into that by nine thanks in large part to back-to-back Cupples three-pointers.
They then cut it to 21 with five minutes left on a driving layup from Pace before Lamar was able to push it back to 30 at the final horn.
In addition to Cupples' career night Weatherly and Pace both added nine points apiece while Lyles chipped in eight. Lamar out rebounded the Skyhawks 38-26 and also held the advantage in the turnover category, giving the ball up only 18 times.
JAMES MADISON 83, AUSTIN PEAY 56
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Shooting a season-low 30 percent, Austin Peay State University women's basketball team suffered an 83-56 loss to James Madison, Tuesday night, at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (1-3) committed a season-low 11 turnovers but could not find the bottom of the basket, making a season-low 18-of-60 (30 percent) from the field. The cold shooting progressed to the free-throw line where the Lady Govs made just 14-of-26 for a season-low 53.8 percent.
James Madison (3-0) had no such troubles, making 28 field goals at a 46.7 percent clip. The Dukes tacked on a 20-of-28 (71.4 percent) free-throw performance to pull away in the second half.
Down eight at the break, the Lady Govs were able to keep the deficit manageable trailing by nine points, 47-38, following freshman Neika Smith's three-point field goal at the 15:46 mark. However, Austin Peay went the next six-plus minutes without a field goal as James Madison pieced together a 17-4 run and led 64-24 at the 9:40 mark.
Senior Nicole Jamen led the Lady Govs with 11 points. Junior Ashley Herring chipped in 10 points and had a team-best five rebounds.
James Madison junior Dawn Evans led all scorers with 26 points while dishing out a game-high five assists. Three other Dukes players scored 10 points in the contest.
SMU 79, EASTERN ILLINOIS 52
DALLAS, Texas - SMU turned 24 Eastern Illinois women's basketball turnovers into 26 points and blew the game open with a 26-8 stretch midway through the first half, defeating the Panthers, 79-52, Tuesday evening at Moody Coliseum.
The Panthers (1-3) shot just 33 percent from the field, including 1-of-13 from 3-point land. SMU (4-0), meanwhile, made 10 3-pointers and had 23 assists versus 14 turnovers. The Mustangs also enjoyed a 34-7 advantage in bench scoring.
Eastern did keep SMU off the free throw line. One game after Northern Colorado attempted 40 free throws in an EIU win, the Mustangs went to the line only three times and finished 3-of-5. SMU scored all of its 45 first-half points from the field.
Dominique Sims scored a season-high 18 points in her return to her native Texas. She was the only EIU player to connect on a 3-pointer. Maggie Kloak finished with 14 points. Ta'Kenya Nixon had eight points, failing to score in double-figures for the first time this season.
Eleven of the Mustangs that saw action scored, four finishing in double-figures. Raquel Christian led the way with 13 points off the bench.
SMU led for much of the game after outscoring the Panthers 26-8 over a nine-minute span in the first half. Eastern suffered through a scoring drought of more than four minutes during that span.
After playing the Mustangs even for the first four minutes, the home team went on a 14-2 run. Eastern cut its deficit to seven with six unanswered points on field goals by Sims, Pilar Walker and Sydney Mitchell. But SMU responded with a 12-0 surge.
The Panthers got no closer than 19 down and trailed by as many as 31 in the second half.
Eastern had made multiple 3-pointers in every game since a Jan. 27, 2007 loss at Morehead State. Savannah State was 3-of-4 at the free throw line in an EIU neutral-site victory in Cincinnati last year.
BAYLOR 104, JACKSONVILLE STATE 45
WACO, Texas - Freshman Brittney Griner scored 20 points to lead eighth ranked Baylor University (3-1) to a 104-45 win over Jacksonville State (0-4) in front of 6,127 at the Ferrell Center on Tuesday night.
The Lady Bears went on a 13-0 run to begin the game before Zenobia Pitts' 3-pointer got the Gamecocks on the board with 16:27 left in the first half.
Griner, also had six rebounds and blocked eight shots, became just the seventh player to dunk in a women's basketball game when her dunk with 15:05 left in the first half gave the Lady Bears a 17-3 lead.
Baylor shot 57 percent in the first half and held a 25-17 rebounding edge to take a 51-23 lead at halftime.
Pitts led JSU with 11 points, including a team-high three assists. Karisma Boykin knocked down a career-high three 3-pointers for nine points and Kelsey Johnikin followed with eight points. Paris Hollingsworth lead JSU with five rebounds and Candice Carmine pulled down four.
The Gamecocks, who made a season-high seven three pointers, shot 25 percent on the night and had a season-low 15 turnovers. The Lady Bears shot 54 percent from the floor and went 24-of-29 from the free throw line while holding a 60-30 rebounding advantage.
Morghan Medlock scored 18 points and had six rebounds and Ashley Field scored 17 points with four rebounds. Melissa Jones rounded out the double figure scorers for Baylor with 11 points while Lindsay Palmer wiped the glass for a team-high 10 rebounds.