SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Jacksonville State 70, Morehead State 60
@Eastern Illinois 67, Southeast Missouri 39
@Tennessee State 51, UT Martin 38
@Austin Peay 83, Murray State 79
@Tennessee Tech 75, Eastern Kentucky 47
JACKSONVILLE STATE 70, MOREHEAD STATE 60
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State had four players score in double figures en route to a 70-60 Ohio Valley Conference win over Morehead State on Saturday at Pete Mathews Coliseum
The Gamecocks snapped a seven-game losing streak against OVC schools and a three-game overall losing streak to improve to 4-11 overall a 1-4 in league play.
Morehead State saw a five-game road win streak come to an end while suffering its first conference loss, falling to 5-1 and 12-7 overall.
Zenobia Pitts and Karisma Boykin led JSU with 16 points apiece followed by Danielle Vaughn with a career-high 14 point. Brittany Wiley added 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The Eagles jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead before back-to-back 3-pointers by Destiny Lane and Zenobia Pitts and a layup by Danielle Vaughn put JSU up 10-6 with 15:56 left in the first half.
Jax State did not trail the remainder of the half while building it lead to as many as nine points. Karsima Boykin's three at the 8:32 mark gave JSU a 27-18 lead.
Deja Watson's basket cut the lead to 37-35 with 40 seconds left in the half before Pitts hit a jumper with one second left to send JSU to the locker room with a 39-35 lead at halftime.
The Gamecocks shot 41.5 percent from the floor and connected on six-of-11 3-pointers for 54.5 percent in the first half. MSU shot 50 percent overall and made 37 percent from beyond the arc in the half.
With the game tied 51-51, JSU used a 9-2 run that was capped by a Brittany Wiley basket to give JSU a 60-53 lead with 5:57 remaining in the game.
Pitts hit a three to give JSU a 63-55 lead with 4:42 remaining followed by a Wiley three that pushed the lead to 66-57 with 2:26 left.
JSU went four-for-six from the free throw line in the final minute to seal the win. Pitts was three-for-four and Danielle Beneby was one-for-two.
Courtney Lumpkin led the Eagles with 15 points followed by Bozeman with 15 points and Tiffany Hamilton with 13 points. Watson grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Eagles.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 67, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 39
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Four starters scored in double figures for Eastern Illinois women's basketball, but it was an excellent defensive effort that highlighted a 67-39 victory against Southeast Missouri State in Ohio Valley Conference action Saturday afternoon at Lantz Arena.
The Redhawks' 39 points represent the fewest EIU has ever surrendered to a Division I opponent.
Maggie Kloak led the Panthers (8-8, 4-1 OVC) with 16 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five assists. Chantelle Pressley added a career-high 13 points and eight rebounds. Ta'Kenya Nixon and Dominique Sims both chipped in 11. The EIU starters accounted for 53 of the 67 points.
Shelah Fields scored 18 of SEMO's 39 points, connecting on four of her team's five 3-pointers. Two of the five Redhawk starters did not score. Southeast (5-9, 2-3 OVC) was without injured starters Jasmine Davis and Lauren Sharpe.
However, EIU's third consecutive victory did not come without a price. Pilar Walker went down with an apparent knee injury in the second half and did not return. She will be reevaluated next week but is expected to be sidelined.
Eastern won the rebounding battle, 52-31. It was EIU's third 50-plus rebound effort this season. The Panthers also outscored SEMO 20-2 at the free throw line. The Redhawks only went the charity stripe twice in the contest and not until the 18:47 mark of the second half.
Eastern led wire-to-wire after Pressley connected on a pair of free throws on her team's first possession. The sophomore went on to score six of EIU's first 18 points. Kloak and Pressley teamed up to account for 17 of the Panthers' 28 first-half points.
Eastern took a double-figure lead for good with a 9-0 spurt early in the game. Meanwhile, SEMO scored only two points in the first six and half minutes of the contest. The Panthers led by double figures the rest of the game. The Redhawks did cut a 16-point deficit to 11 at the 1:45 mark of the first half, but Kloak scored the only points the remainder of the half for either team.
Eastern used another 9-0 surge to stretch its lead to 20 with 13 minutes remaining in the game. SEMO suffered through a five-minute field goal drought as the Panthers blew the game open. Kloak accounted for seven of the nine points, punctuated by a three-point play. Sims came up with a steal and took the ball the length of the floor. She was unable to finish the fast break, but Kelsey Wyss rebounded and fed the ball to Kloak for a layup and one.
Sims later connected on back-to-back 3-pointers, EIU's first points from behind the arc. Mariah King scored all five of her points in the game on three consecutive possessions in just over a minute's time.
Having also won last year's meeting in Charleston, the Panthers have now posted consecutive victories against SEMO for the first time since sweeping the season series in 1996-97 - EIU's first campaign as an OVC member. The two teams are slated to rematch Feb. 6 in Cape Girardeau.
TENNESSEE STATE 51, UT MARTIN 38
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee State University women's basketball team won its third straight home contest Saturday night with a 51-38 victory over UT Martin in the Gentry Center.
The Lady Tigers improve to 6-9 (3-3 OVC) while the Skyhawks fall to 2-12 (0-5 OVC).
Seniors Oby Okafor and Nikki Rumph, along with freshman Jasmin Shuler each scored 12 points for TSU. Okafor added 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
Darnisha Lyles, the only player to post double-digits, led UTM with 13 points and nine rebounds.
After jumping out to an early 11-2 lead in the first half, the Tennessee State offense slowed down. UT Martin took advantage, coming to within five after Cali Cupplies knocked down a three-pointer.
TSU increased its lead to 18-8 following an old fashioned 3-point play from Jasmin Shuler but UTM once again closed the gap, 25-20.
Simone Hopes connected with Oby Okafor in the paint to give TSU a 27-20 lead going into the halftime break.
In the second frame, after going for nearly four minutes without a bucket, a break-away lay-up from Nikki Rumph sparked a 6-0 run that made TSU's lead 33-22.
With 12:57 on the clock, Simone Hopes scored to give TSU a 38-26 lead but UTM posted back-to-back buckets to cut the lead down to 38-30.
The Lady Tigers answered with a 9-2 run to go up 47-32 with 3:37 left and held on to the lead for the rest of the game.
UT Martin out-rebounded Tennessee State, 39-31, but recorded 27 turnovers compared to TSU's 12. TSU also held the advantage in assists, 13-5, steals, 13-6, and blocks, 6-3. The Lady Tigers shot 37 percent from the field, including 18.2 percent from three-point range while only knocking down 56.3 percent of their free-throws.
The Skyhawks shot 34.1 percent from the field, 27.3 percent from beyond the arc and 50.0 percent from the charity stripe.
AUSTIN PEAY 83, MURRAY STATE 79
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Despite failing to hit a field goal in the final five minutes, Austin Peay State University women's basketball team pulled out an 83-79 Ohio Valley Conference victory against Murray State, Saturday afternoon at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (5-12, 4-2 OVC) held a 70-61 lead after junior Darcie Warner's basket with 5:12 remaining. That field goal - which was the Lady Govs final field goal of the game - was followed by Murray State's 12-2 run over the next three minutes. The Racers took a 73-72 lead after Kristen Kluempers converted a traditional three-point play. However, her field goal was the Racers final basket.
The game ultimately was decided at the free-throw line over the final 2:33. Austin Peay made 13 of its 18 free throws during that span, including junior Ashley Herring's 12-of-14 performance from the line. Murray State was 7-of-9 down the stretch and unable to keep up with the Lady Govs.
Murray State (6-10, 1-4) held the lead for most of the game's first eight minutes. Austin Peay grabbed the lead courtesy five consecutive points - a Herring three-point basket and a field goal by senior Nicole Jamen. The Lady Govs would extend their lead to 15 points later in the half via a 17-4 scoring burst that ended with APSU leading 45-30 with 1:56 remaining. The lead was trimmed to 11 points, 47-36, at halftime as the Racers scored four straight points to end the frame.
Herring led the Lady Govs with 19 points, including her career-high 12 free throws. Junior Jasmine Rayner finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds for her third career double-double. Jamen (16 points), junior Brooke Faulkner (15) and Warner (10) each also reached double-digit scoring territory.
Rachael Isom and Kayla Vance each scored 20 points to lead Murray State.
TENNESSEE TECH 75, EASTERN KENTUCKY 47
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Tech shocked previously unbeaten and league-leading Eastern Kentucky Saturday night in Eblen Center behind early fireworks from Kellie Cook, building a 15-0 lead and cruising to a 75-47 Ohio Valley Conference victory.
EKU, which brought a 5-0 OVC record into the contest, saw its record slip to 8-7 overall and 5-1 in the league. Tech, which is now 5-1 at home, improved to 7-8 overall and 2-3 in the conference.
Cook, a freshman, led Tech with 23 points, hitting that career-high mark for the third time this season. She finished the game with 23 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Sophomore Tacarra Hayes, who posted a triple-double Thursday night, threatened to repeat that rare feat Saturday. She finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Kylie Cook also achieved double figures with 13, and grabbed eight rebounds as Tech completely dominated in rebounds, 52-26.
Talisha Davis was the lone EKU player to score in double digits, netting 14. Alex Jones had nine points, five rebounds and four steals and Cherie White added eight points and five rebounds.
Tech owned the backboards in the first half with a 27-8 lead in rebounds, and used that to help take a 20-point lead (42-22) into the dressing room at the intermission. Cook had 17 points in the first half and Hayes had 10 at the break.
Cook scored the first 10 points on the game, including back-to-back 3-pointers. Hayes hit a jumper to make it 12-0, and Cook added her third 3-pointer and the lead grew to 15-0 with less than four minutes elapsed.
The Colonels pulled to within 10 points on a 3-pointer by Davis with 7:52 to play, making it 26-16. A steal by Simone Rutledge led to a jumper by Hayes and Katherine Barker grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to take the lead back to 14.
Katy Cooke's layup with 1:51 to play made it a 20-point margin. With three seconds to go, Rachel Glidden launched a bomb from about 26 feet that hit nothing but net and put Tech in control by 20 at halftime.
The Colonels put together a brief rally early in the second half, trimming their deficit from 20 down to 13 points. A jumper by Brittany Coles with 13:13 remaining made it 44-31, but Hayes scored three and Kylie Cook added a 3-pointer to rebuild the TTU advantage to 19.
The difference reached 30 points with 2:07 to play on a 3-pointer by Kylie Cook, making it 73-43. Tech was up by 30 after Kellie Cook hit two free throws with 26 seconds to play, before Ashley Pritchett's jumper at the 14-second mark counted for the final score.