TUESDAY’S SCORES
Middle Tennessee 65,
@Tennessee Tech 59 (OT)
@Belmont 66, Binghamton 47
Kansas State 62,
@Tennessee State 47
@Murray State 76, Evansville 62
MIDDLE TENNESSEE 65, TENNESSEE TECH 59
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team kept the Blue Raider faithful quiet for most of the night, nearly stunning the Sun Belt Conference favorites before missed shots in overtime cost the Golden Eagles a 65-59 loss in the latest in the long-time, bitter rivalry between the two evenly-matched arch-enemies.
Kortni Jones scored 24 points to lead MTSU (3-1) while Icelyn Elie and Ebony Rowe added 12 apiece.
Tech (2-2), which had won all four previous overtime games against MTSU, was led by Diamond Henderson with 16 points. Kylie Cook and Jala Harris netted nine each.
Tech had the edge in rebounds (39-35), steals, blocked shots, assists and 3-point shooting. Field goal percentage was virtually even until three overtime misses by Tech. MTSU was 9-for-11 at the free throw line while Tech converted just 4-for-9 at the stripe.
Middle outscored Tech in the paint, 42-24. The Golden Eagle bench outscored the Blue Raider support crew, 22-4.
Tech held a 56-52 lead with 1:44 to play in regulation following a layup by Henderson. Jones made two free throws with 1:27 remaining, and Rowe scored a layup to tie the contest with 25 seconds to play.
Harris opened the overtime with a layup for a 58-56 TTU lead, but Rowe's jumper tied things. Tech was on top one more time when Harris made one free throw for a 59-58 lead with 3:10 left.
Jones' layup with 2:57 to play gave the Blue Raiders the 60-59 edge, and a 3-pointer by Kellie Cook went in-and-out. Jones added a layup and free throw for a three-point play and a four-point lead. Two freebies by Shanice Cason accounted for the final margin.
The Blue Raiders took a 33-29 edge into the intermission after shooting 52 percent in the first half including 4-for-6 from outside the arc. Tech shot 45.8 percent in the half, and owned a strong 18-8 edge in rebounds, but had lost 10 turnovers.
Kylie Cook's 3-for-4 from long range during the opening 20 minutes netted nine points and led Tech at halftime as seven different players notched points. For MTSU, Kortni Jones dropped in a dozen by halftime, going 5-for-6 from the field.
Following a brief break in action for Thanksgiving, the Golden Eagles are right back on the Eblen Center floor Saturday night when they host another Sun Belt Conference foe, Louisiana-Monroe, at 7 p.m.
BELMONT 66, BINGHAMTON 47
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - -- Propelled by three players reaching double figures, the Belmont women's basketball team (2-3) notched a convincing 66-47 win over visiting Binghamton (0-4) on Tuesday night at the Curb Event Center.
The Bruins opened the contest with field goals from sophomore Katie Carroll (Lilburn, Ga.), senior Katie Brooks (Maryville, Tenn.) and redshirt freshman Blair Bryce (Red Oak, Texas) to take an early 6-2 lead. Belmont continued to add to its lead and behind a triple by freshman Frankie Joubran (Detroit, Mich.) and a pair at the free-throw line by sophomore Adrienne Tarrence (Bowling Green, Ky.), BU had its first double digit lead of the night, 18-8, by the 10 minute mark.
BU maintained its double digit advantage until late in the first stanza, thanks to another Brooks basket and the front end of pair at the stripe by senior Alyssa Visbeen (Franklin, Tenn.). After falling into a scoring lapse that lasted over four minutes, the Bearcats finally cut into BU's lead with a three-point play completion by Morgan Murphy, moving to within six, 21-15, with 3:54 left on the clock. Binghamton would inch as close as four, 23-19, in the final 90 seconds but senior Jordan Coleman (Orlando, Fla.) netted two at the line to maintain the cushion. Murphy was fouled but only made one of her free throws but junior Julianne Downs (Franklin, Tenn.) recorded her first points of the night at the charity stripe to inflate the BU lead back up to seven, 27-20, with 45 ticks left on the clock. Downs went on to hold for the final shot of the half with five seconds left to send Belmont to the locker room ahead, 29-20.
Coleman started hot to begin the second stanza, knocking down back-to-back jumpers in the lane and Brooks followed with one of her own to expand BU's lead to 13, 35-22, barely 90 seconds in. The Bearcat bench called a timeout hoping to slow the Bruins but they kept surging. By the 15:43 mark, Belmont had pulled away, 41-26, courtesy of shots by Brooks and Visbeen. However, the scrappy Binghamton squad was able to close the gap to nine, 46-37, four minutes later but Visbeen drilled Belmont's first triple of the half to squelch the rally.
Belmont's shooting kept distance between the teams down the stretch as Visbeen was fouled as she drove to the hoop and went on to complete the three-point play to put BU on top, 58-40, with just over four minutes left in regulation. On the next possession, Joubran put in work under the basket, grabbing her own rebound, putting it back up and finishing to give Belmont a 20-point lead, 60-40, barely 30 seconds later.
With 3:01 left on the clock, Binghamton burned its final timeout of the contest to put together a plan to stop the hot shooting Bruins and managed to come out of the brief break with only its second three pointer of the night to move within 17, 60-43, but that would be as close as the Bearcats would come for the remainder of the game despite finding the bottom of the net two more times. Belmont used the clock to its advantage in the final 20 seconds, holding for the 66-47 victory.
Binghamton shot 28.8 percent from the floor, an icy 18.2 percent from three-point range and 68.2 percent from the free-throw line. The Bearcats held the advantage in blocks, 3-1.
Only one Binghamton player reached double figures – Morgan Murphy, who added 10 points. Sharae Swinson and Jasbriell Swain led the team in rebounds, grabbing seven.
Belmont shot 43.6 percent from the hardwood, 36.4 percent from behind the three-point arc and 77.8 percent from the charity stripe.
Brooks recorded a game-high 15 points while Visbeen added 11. Coleman picked up her first double-double as Bruin with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Carroll finished with a game-high three steals
Belmont returns to action Sunday on the road at Indiana State. Tip-off is slated for 3:05 p.m.
KANSAS STATE 62, TENNESSEE STATE 47
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee State stayed close with Kansas State in the first half, but the Wildcats pulled away in the second as the Lady Tigers fell 62-47 at the Gentry Center Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (3-0) started strong putting together a 13-2 run in the first eleven-and-a-half minutes. After Avery Jones put TSU on the scoreboard with a layup on the second possession of the game, the Lady Tigers went on a scoreless stretch of 11 minutes before Destiney Gaston ended the K-State run with a layup of her own.
Jones led TSU with 14 points and eight rebounds.
TSU continued to battle and chip away at the Wildcat lead getting the margin under 10 on a Tanesha Stenson jumper to make it 21-13 with 7:12 left in the first half. The Stenson jumper started a 14-7 TSU run that ended the half with Kansas State holding a 28-25 advantage.
Stenson, a sophomore from Nashville, had career-highs with 12 points and 22 minutes.
KSU started the second half just like they did the first and turned a three point lead into a 14 point lead within seven minutes.
The Lady Tigers made just four shots in the second half, two each from Simone Hopes and Jones, while shooting 24 percent for the game. Hopes tied Jones for the team lead with eight boards.
K-State was led by Haley Texanda who had a game-high 17 points, and Kendra Spresser with a game best 12 rebounds.
The Wildcats have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in four of the past five seasons reaching the second round three times.
The Tigers will spend Thanksgiving in Birmingham, Ala., as they face UAB on Friday at 2 p.m. CST and Samford on Saturday at 3 p.m.
MURRAY STATE 76, EVANSVILLE 62
MURRAY, Ky. -The Murray State women's basketball won its second consecutive game and first this season at the CFSB Center on Tuesday night with a convincing 76-62 victory over Evansville.
The game was controlled by Murray State (2-3) from the onset as they held an Evansville (2-2) team that had scored 15 3-pointers in its previous game to a 1-for-12 performance in the first half. Meanwhile, the Racers weren't too shabby themselves from behind the arc, as they went 9-for-20 on the night to finish at 45 percent.
The Racers led by 15 at the half and led by as many as 18 to start the stanza. The Purple Aces eventually found their offensive stroke in the second half, but MSU matched them virtually point-for-point to hold on for the 14 point win.
The guard play of the Racers was outstanding on the night as the trio of senior Mariah Robinson, junior Erica Burgess and freshman Erika Sisk combined for 65 of MSU's 76 points on the night. Robinson led all scorers in the game with 31, while Burgess and Sisk followed with 21 and 13, respectively.
Robinson led another great free throw shooting night for the Racers as she went 10-for-10 from the stripe, while MSU as a team went 23-for-27 or 87.1 percent. Individually, Robinson is now shooting 94.4 percent on the year from the free throw line, while the team as whole is shooting 73.6 percent.
Rebounding was another big part of the Racer's game on Tuesday night, as they outrebounded the Purple Aces 50 to 35. Freshman Kelsey Dirks played a huge role in Murray State's efforts on the glass, by pulling down double digit rebounds for the first time in her career with 10.
Robinson finished the night just one board shy of a second-straight double-double with nine, while senior Kyra Watson and junior Jessica Winfrey followed with seven each.
Murray State will play the second game of a six-game home stand on Monday when it hosts Lipscomb at The Bank. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.