WEDNESDAY’S SCORES
@Georgia State 79,
Jacksonville State 50
@Eastern Kentucky 56, Kent State 42
Chattanooga 84,
@Belmont 54
@Kansas 68,
Southeast Missouri 58
EASTERN KENTUCKY 56, KENT STATE 42
RICHMOND, Ky. - – It was a battle of attrition on Wednesday night in McBrayer Arena, as the Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team overcame a poor shooting night by stifling its opponent, Kent State, into an even poorer shooting night in a 56-42 victory.
The undefeated Lady Colonels (2-0) have now won two straight to open the 2012-13 season. Both victories have come over Mid-American Conference opponents.
For the second consecutive game, senior Jade Barber led the way for EKU. The Louisville native stepped up and notched her second double-double in as many games this season, pouring in a team-high 16 points, grabbing a team-high 18 boards and swatting a team-high four shots.
After grabbing a career-high 21 rebounds against Miami (Ohio) last Friday, Barber is averaging 19.5 boards per game this season.
As a team, EKU out-rebounded Kent State, 50-39. The Lady Colonels now hold a +11.5 rebounding margin over their opponents.
Fellow seniors Brittany Coles and Raechele Gray also turned in solid efforts in the win. Coles dropped 12 points and dished out a team-best six assists, while Gray went for nine points and notched four steals.
Kent State did not have a scorer in double figures, as Amber Dunlap led the way with nine points.
EKU shot just 33 percent (21-of-64) from the field and 23 percent (3-of-13) from behind the arc; however, the Lady Colonels’ strong defense stymied visiting Kent State to just 26 percent (14-of-54) from the field and seven percent (1-of-14) from long range.
Two games into the 2012-13 campaign, EKU’s perimeter defense has been effective, as the Lady Colonels are holding opponents to just 17 percent (5-of-30) shooting from three-point range.
EKU started strong, as a bucket in the paint by freshman Shelly Harper made it 17-7 in favor of the Lady Colonels midway through the first half. However, Kent State responded with a 9-1 run and pulled back to within two, 18-16, on a tip-in by Heather Bachman with 7:01 on the clock.
Both teams went cold over the final seven minutes of the first half, and neither team scored a bucket in the last three minutes of play. A put-back by Barber with 3:18 remaining, though, was enough to send the Lady Colonels into the locker room at halftime up by six, 24-18.
Kent State hung around for much of the early part of the second half and pulled to within four, 38-34, on a layup by Trisha Krewson with 8:19 remaining in the game; however, Barber responded with a bucket in the paint that snapped a nearly five-minute scoring drought by the Lady Colonels, and a three-pointer by junior Pilar Walker soon after then sent EKU on a 12-2 run that ended with a jumper in the lane by Coles that made it 50-36 with less than five minutes to play. Kent State trailed by double digits the rest of the way.
EKU hits the hardwood again on Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. game against UNC Asheville at McBrayer Arena. The Lady Colonels will then fly to Puerto Rico to play in the San Juan Shootout over Thanksgiving Break.
GEORGIA STATE 79, JACKSONVILLE STATE 50
ATLANTA, Ga. - Sophomore Briana Morrow registered her sixth career double-double with a career high 19 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the Jacksonville State women's basketball team dropped a 79-50 decision to Georgia State on Wednesday at the GSU Sports Arena.
Morrow, the Gamecocks leading scorer from a season ago, finished with xx points along with her 19 total rebounds. The Nashville, Tenn.-native pulled down ten rebounds in the first half and nine in the second half.
The loss dropped JSU to 0-2 on the season with another road test on Saturday at Mercer, before hosting Samford on Monday, Nov. 19 at Pete Mathews Coliseum. The Panthers improved to 2-1 on the season.
The Gamecocks struggled out if the gates for the second consecutive game as GSU stormed out to a 20-5 lead after the first seven minutes of the first half. The Panthers finished the opening 20 minutes by hitting 16-of-33 from the field and draining five treys. JSU outscored GSU, 15-13 over a four minute stretch to get within 33-20 at the 3:10 mark. GSU finished the half on a 10-8 run to take a 15-point, 43-28 lead into the dressing room.
With the Gamecocks' deficit staying within the 15 point range for beginning stages of the second half, the Panthers took control of the contest with a scoring run that was aided by Jax State miscues. GSU extended the margin out to 24 points at 63-39 at the nine-minute mark of the second half. GSU took its largest lead of the game at 30 points with under five minutes left at 73-43.
Sophomore Marikate Gardler came off the bench to score ten points and five rebounds in 28 minutes of action. Miranda Cantrell, playing minutes from her hometown of College Park, Ga., added seven points and six rebounds in her first action of the season. Junior transfer Dashauna Truss pitched in five points and four rebounds along with three assists.
For the second consecutive game, JSU has out-rebounded its opposition as it pulled down 48 rebounds over GSU's 44 boards. GSU turned in a 46 percent shooting night from the field, while limiting JSU to 26 percent from the field.
GSU had three players reach double figures in the scoring column, led by Kayla Nolan's 14 points. Ashlee Cole came off the bench to tally 11 points, while Kendra Long finished with ten points.
CHATTANOOGA 84, BELMONT 54
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Belmont women's basketball team (1-2) was unable to rebound from an early scoring deficit to Chattanooga (2-0) on Wednesday night in the Curb Event Center. Despite battling back from an early double digit deficit, the Bruins fell to the Lady Mocs, 84-54, in their home opener.
Chattanooga, who was still riding high from an upset win over Tennessee, jumped out to an early five point lead, 9-4, by the 16 minute mark as the Bruins struggled to find their offensive rhythm. Finally, reigning OVC Newcomer of the Week Jordan Coleman (Orlando, Fla.) drained a trey from the right side of the arc and senior Katie Brooks (Maryville, Tenn.) followed with a jumper to cut the Lady Mocs lead down to two, 15-13, two minutes later. UTC continued to find the bottom of the net but BU was able to counter with baskets to keep the game within reach.
A triple by senior Alyssa Visbeen (Franklin, Tenn.) moved to Bruins back to within eight, 28-20, with just over eight minutes left in the half. However, Chattanooga put together a quick run to pull away, 33-20, just 90 seconds later, forcing the Bruin bench to burn a timeout to regroup. Undeterred, Belmont dug in its heels and began firing again but was unable to connect. Current OVC Freshman of the Week Frankie Joubran (Detroit, Mich.) buried a jumper from the right elbow with four and a half minutes remaining and that would be BU's last field goal of the half as UTC continued streaking throughout the remainder of the first stanza and was able to take a 42-28 lead into the locker room.
Looking to spark their teammates, junior Molly Ernst (Louisville, Ky.) opened the second half for the Bruins with a triple from the left side of the arc and Brooks hit a jumper in the lane to begin chipping away at the Lady Mocs lead. BU also intensified its defensive efforts by forcing a series of turnovers but was only able to convert on a handful of the chances.
The Bruins were plagued with a series of balls that rolled in and around the rim before hopping out midway through the second half. A pair of free throws Joubran made it a 20-point differential, 59-39, with just over 10 minutes left in regulation as BU continued to put in work on both sides of the ball. Two minutes later, the Bruins were nearly in the double bonus and Visbeen shined at the charity stripe, hitting six consecutive free throws after doing work under the basket.
Unfortunately, those would be the only points the Bruins would score for more than a 10-minute span away from the stripe. With five minutes left in regulation, a three-pointer by Joubran and Visbeen's eighth and ninth free throws would close the gap to 20 again, 72-52, but that would be as close as BU would come for the remainder of the night. UTC closed the contest with a 12-0 run before Brooks was fouled on the last possession. She hit both and the Lady Mocs held the ball in the final seconds to take the game, 84-54.
Chattanooga shot 48.3 from the floor, 46.7 percent from three-point range and 73.1 percent from the free-throw line. The Lady Mocs held the advantage in rebounds, 39-31, assists, 14-7, and steals, 12-4.
Taylor Hall led UTC with a game-high 16 points. Also reaching double digits were Faith Dupree and Tatianna Jackson, who each added 12, and Ashlen Dewart, who added 10 points. Ka'Vonne Towns and Kylie Lambert led the team in rebounds, grabbing six apiece.
Belmont shot 32 percent from the hardwood, 27.8 percent from behind the three-point arc and a blistering 94.4 percent from the charity stripe. The Bruins held the advantage in blocks, 5-2.
Brooks led the Bruins with 14 points followed by Visbeen, who added 13 after going 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. Joubran contributed nine points in the effort. Coleman led Belmont in rebounds for a third-consecutive contest, pulling down six.
Belmont returns to action on Tuesday, November 20 at the Curb Event Center. The Bruins host first-time opponent Binghamton beginning at 6 p.m.
KANSAS 68, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 58
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Southeast Missouri women's basketball team gave Kansas (No. 25 in the Coaches Poll) a scare, but the Jayhawks (2-0) pulled out a 68-58 win at Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.??
Allyson Bradshaw's scored 14 of her 17 points in the second half to help the Redhawks (1-2) overcome an 11-point second-half deficit to tie the 25th-ranked Jayhawks in the second half before Kansas eventually pulled ahead for good.
KU tallied nine-consecutive points with Angel Goodrich scoring five points and Carolyn Davis scoring four. Two Brittany Harriel free throws got Southeast on the board at the 16:17 mark. Harriel then cut the gap to five points with a long two-point jumper, but a Natalie Knight three-pointer made it an eight-point Jayhawk lead.
With Kansas leading 14-6, Southeast got consecutive points on a Kara Wright jumper and a Dru Haertling three-pointer to claw to within three points at 14-11 with 12:27 left in the opening stanza.
Five-straight KU points extended its lead over Southeast to 19-11. The Redhawks were unfazed as they outscored the Jayhawks 11-5 over the next four minutes to cut the deficit to 24-22 with 6:20 to play in the first.
Patricia Mack drove to the basket at the end of the shot clock for a layup that cut the KU lead to 27-24 with four minutes left, but the Jayhawks countered with seven consecutive points to grab a 34-24 advantage with 43 seconds left in the frame. Undeterred, Southeast got a free throw from Courtney Shiffer to make it a nine-point deficit. After Shiffer missed her second free throw, Olivia Hackmann hustled to the loose ball and made a layup for her first career points. Her hustle basket cut Southeast's deficit to 34-27 heading into the break.
The Jayhawks scored the first four points in the second half to open up an 11-point lead (38-27). Jordan Hunter then kicked off a 10-2 Redhawk run by driving for a basket and finding Shiffer under the hoop for a layup off an inbound pass. Shiffer kicked the ball to Bradshaw in the corner and the sophomore responded with a three-pointer. Following a Davis basket, Bradshaw connected from the opposite corner to cut the deficit to three points at 40-37.
A Davis basket made it 42-37, but Wright countered with a clutch four-point play. After making a three-pointer while being fouled, Wright drained the free throw to make it a one-point game. Davis followed with another basket to make it 44-41, but Bradshaw's third three-ball of the half tied it at 44-44 with 14:25 left on the clock, the first tie since the opening tip.
Tania Jackson hit a long jumpshot and connected on a three-pointer after a KU stop to put Kansas back on top 49-44. Knight followed with two free throws and a basket to extend the Jayhawk run to 9-0. KU eventually extended the run to 12-0 over an 8:21 span and grabbed a 56-44 lead with 7:30 remaining.
Southeast would not go quietly, Harriel made two free throws, Hunter made a steal and a layup and Bradshaw followed with a layup of her own to make it 56-50 with under four minutes remaining. After Davis made a basket, Harriel followed with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to cut the deficit to 58-53 with 2:49 left. That was the closest the Redhawks got the rest of the way as Davis scored KU's next seven points to up the lead to 65-57 with under a minute left, effectively putting the game away.
The Jayhawks hit an even 40 percent from the field, while the Redhawks made 37.5 percent of their shots. Southeast connected on 8-of-15 three-pointers (53.3 percent) while KU shot 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from long range. Kansas shot 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) at the free throw line against Southeast's 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) clip at the charity stripe.
The Jayhawks held a 44-36 rebounding edge, though the Redhawks actually won the battle of the boards 20-17 in the first half. Southeast committed 17 turnovers while KU had 11 of its own, leading to a 17-4 Kansas advantage in points off turnovers. The Jayhawks outscored the Redhawks 38-18 in the paint, though Southeast's bench outscored Kansas' 24-12.
Bradshaw tallied 17 points, giving her double-digit points in three-straight games to start the season. She shot 6-of-10 from the field and a made all five of her three-point attempts, tying a career high. Harriel also scored in double figures for the third-consecutive game with 11 points and nine rebounds. Four Jayhawks scored in double digits, led by Davis' game-high 27. Angel Goodrich scored 17 points, Tania Jackson tallied 12 points and 13 rebounds off the bench and Natalie Knight scored 10 points.
The Redhawks are off until Nov. 19 when they travel to Arkansas State.