MONDAY’S SCORES
No. 6 Louisville 79,
@UT Martin 61
@Murray State 63, Lipscomb 55
LOUISIVLLE 79, UT MARTIN 61
MARTIN, Tenn. - The No. 6 Louisville Cardinals found out The University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team was for real Monday night in the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Similar to the way UT Martin battled defending national champion Baylor and No. 4 Stanford in the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Hawaii last week, the Skyhawks rallied down the stretch and pulled within 11 points twice in the second half to undefeated Louisville. However, Louisville managed to post a 79-61 victory.
UT Martin was out-rebounded by Louisville 40-22 and five Cardinals scored in double-figures. Shoni Schimmel and Bria Smith led the way with 16 points each, while Megan Deines finished with 15 points. Sara Hammond scored 14 points and Monique Reid tossed in 10 points.
The Skyhawks were led by junior guards Heather Butler with 17 points and Jasmine Newsome with 16 points. Junior Megan White netted a trio of 3-pointers.
Freshman Cortrice Golden led the Skyhawks with five rebounds. She had eight points and fouled out after 11 minutes.
The Skyhawks averaged 78.3 points per game against Baylor, Stanford and Louisville. They played all three nationally ranked teams within 10 days.
With 7:20 to play in the game, White knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it a 16-point ballgame.
The Skyhawks cut the Cardinals lead to 15 points when Butler canned a 3-pointer from the right wing. The trey was part of the Skyhawks’ 21-19 run to open the second half.
At the half, UT Martin trailed 41-22, but the Skyhawks outscored the Cardinals 7-4 in the last 1:53 of the half.
Butler led the Skyhawks with nine points, while White knocked down a pair of 3-pointers. Louisville won the battle on the boards 23-9.
With 7:58 to play in the first half, the Skyhawks trailed 24-10. Louisville shot a blistering 72 percent from the field, while the Skyhawks shot 33 percent. Louisville scored 13 points off turnovers and out-scored UT Martin 8-0 on second chance baskets in the first half.
The Skyhawks will return to action Wednesday, Nov. 28, when they play at Evansville.
MURRAY STATE 63, LIPSCOMB 55
MURRAY, Ky. - A season-low seven turnovers and the second double-double of the year from senior Mariah Robinson helped the Murray State women’s basketball team record its third straight win at the CFSB Center on Monday night, a 63-55 victory over Lipscomb.
The Racers (3-3) shot a season-low 22.2 percent in the first half, including a 17.6 percent performance from 3-point range and a 55.6 percent performance from the free throw the line. The poor shooting, coupled with Lipscomb (0-4) outrebounding MSU in the opening stanza, led to Murray State trailing 26-24 at the break.
However, in the second half, the Racers caught fire and Robinson kicked it off by nailing back-to-back 3 pointers. Murray State shot 33.3 percent from the floor in the second half to finish at 27 percent. The Racers closed out the game by outscoring the Lady Bisons 17-8 in the final five minutes, to capture the 63-55 win.
Through the rebounding in the game was tied, a key factor that led to the win was the plus-10 margin Murray State enjoyed on the offensive boards. The Racers also got to the free throw line 25 times in the second half, compared to just nine in the first, and made 19 of the attempts to finish the game with a 70.6 percentage.
Robinson scored 15 points and tallied 11 rebounds to notch her second double-double of the season, while junior Erica Burgess led all scorers with 18 points to go along with eight rebounds of her own. Senior Kyra Watson was also just short of a double-double, as she had 10 points and nine rebounds. Of Watson’s nine rebounds, eight came on the offensive glass.
The Racers will return to The Bank on Thursday night to host Ball State at 7 p.m.