MONDAY'S SCORES
@Memphis 73,
Tennessee Tech 64
Eastern Kentucky 69, @Murray State 49
@UT Martin 93, Jacksonville State 63
@Belmont 71, Southeast Missouri 58
@No. 12 Louisville 88,
Tennessee State 25
MEMPHIS 73, TENNESSEE TECH 64
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team was defeated by the Memphis Tigers 73-64 Monday afternoon thanks to 20 Tiger points from the charity stripe, 11 in the second half alone.
The Golden Eagles struggled in the second half, picking up 12 fouls and sending Memphis to foul line 17 times. Tech was outscored 41-31 in the second half, diminishing the one point lead they had earned in the first half. As the play became more aggressive, and the whistles seemed to only be heard on one end of the court, the mild mannered Jim Davis made his voice heard, picking up a technical at the 12 minute mark.
Seeing their coach fight for them, the Golden Eagles fought hard, but were held scoreless for over three minutes. Diamond Henderson, Jala Harris and Lashay Davis pushed the tempo, putting up shot after shot, but nothing seemed to fall for the Purple and Gold.
Coming off the bench Henderson led the squad with 28 points, and Harris added 15 points, a team high 5 rebounds, two assists and two steals. From behind the arc, the Golden Eagles went 4-22, shooting a season low 18.2%. Davis went 3-8 from three-point land for 9 points, and added four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Tech's two centers found themselves in foul trouble throughout the game. T'Keyah Williams and Mariah Dean found themselves with four fouls with Williams adding four points. Dean, Molly Heady and Kellie Cook each tallied four rebounds and six points.
The Golden Eagles will kick of the New Year at home against the newest addition to the Ohio Valley Conference Belmont. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m. in the first part of a double-header.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 69, MURRAY STATE 49
MURRAY, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team shot 48 percent (28-of-58) from the field and limited host Murray State to just 32 percent (18-of-56) from the field as the Lady Colonels opened Ohio Valley Conference play with a convincing 69-49 win over the Racers on Monday afternoon at the CFSB Center.
Monday’s game was a battle of OVC division leaders, as East leader EKU improved to 7-5 (1-0 OVC) while West leader Murray State dropped to 7-5 (0-1 OVC).
It was Eastern’s first road win of 2012-13. The Lady Colonels are now 4-1 in OVC openers under head coach Chrissy Roberts.
Senior Jade Barber led the way with 12 points and 13 rebounds, her second consecutive double-double and sixth this season. Barber also controlled the paint with four blocks, spearheading a superior defensive effort by the top defensive team in the conference.
Fellow seniors Brittany Coles, Alex Jones and Raechele Gray also delivered strong efforts in the win. Coles went for 13 points and a career-high seven assists, while Jones scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds and Gray scored 13 points while knocking down all three of her three-point attempts.
As a team, Eastern shot a season-high 47 percent (8-of-17) from three-point range.
Keiona Kirby paced MSU with 11 points, while Erica Burgess added 10 points and four steals. Mariah Robinson, the third-leading scorer in the conference (17.2 ppg) was limited to just seven points by the Lady Colonels’ stingy defense.
EKU exploded out of the gate, opening the game with a 16-2 run that was capped by a steal and fast-break layup from senior Jalisa Bryant with 14:01 on the clock. Eastern maintained a double-digit lead for much of the remainder of the first stanza, until Murray State ended the half on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to six, 30-24, at the break.
The Racers pulled to within five, 33-28, when Kyra Watson converted a layup early in the second half; however, the Lady Colonels responded with a 10-1 run and retook a double-digits lead when Jones knocked down a jumper to make it 43-29 with 13:17 remaining in the game.
Murray State would not get closer than seven points the rest of the way, as EKU slowly pulled away late in the game.
UT MARTIN 93, JACKSONVILLE STATE 63
MARTIN, Tenn. - Senior Rickiesha Bryant, from Homestead, Fla., recorded her second career double-double and three other University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball players scored in double digits to lead the host Skyhawks past Jacksonville State, 93-63, Monday afternoon at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center in the Ohio Valley Conference opener.
Bryant scored 14 points and pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds.
Junior guards Heather Butler and Jasmine Newsome scored 25 and 24 points respectively while freshman Katie Schubert added a career-high 11 points.
Bryant was 5-for-5 from the field in the first half with six rebounds and five blocks. With the five rejections, she moved up to No. 2 in school history for the most blocks (97).
The Skyhawks cruised to a 52-27 lead at halftime. While Bryant was perfect from the field, the Skyhawks shot 47.6 percent from the field and knocked down eight 3-pointers.
Newsome made three treys, while Butler and Schubert each sank a pair.
Jacksonville State opened the second half with a 7-0 run, but the Skyhawks answered with an 18-6 run capped off by a Butler 3-ball with 10:28 to play in the game.
The Skyhawks stretched their lead to 29 points four times and led by as many as 32 points with 2:13 to play when Bryant made a layup.
Jacksonville state was paced by Briana Morrow who scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
BELMONT 71, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 58
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - After falling behind by as many as 10 points, the Belmont women's basketball team (7-7, 2-0 OVC) rallied to come behind for a win at home over Southeast Missouri State (5-8, 0-1 OVC) in a New Year's Eve afternoon tilt. The Bruins picked up a 71-58 win over the Redhawks to notch their second-straight OVC victory. The win evens the all-time series to three games each between the programs.
BU opened the contest hot from outside with sophomore Katie Carroll (Lilburn, Ga.) and senior Alyssa Visbeen (Franklin, Tenn.) draining back-to-back triples. Three minutes later, the Redhawks had worked to knot the game at eight after a jumper from the right elbow by senior Katie Brooks (Maryville, Tenn.) brought the Belmont bench to its feet. Suddenly, SEMO exploded for an 11-0 run to pull away 16-8 by the 13:20 mark, forcing the Bruin bench to burn a timeout to regroup from a drought that lasted four minutes that had opened the door.
Redshirt freshman Blair Bryce (Red Oak, Texas) and redshirt sophomore Jordyn Luffman (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) forced a pair of turnovers and found the bottom of the net with a jumper and a trifecta, respectively, on successive possessions, snapping the drought and moving Belmont to within two, 19-17, with 9:40 remaining on the clock. However, the Redhawks remained hot behind the arc but Belmont continued to put in work on both sides of the ball. By the 6:50 mark, quick work behind a triple by Brooks and a lay-up by Visbeen gave the BU a slim 22-21 lead.
The teams continued trading baskets over the next three minutes, with neither able to pull away by more than three points until SEMO suddenly used a scoring flurry to expand its lead to seven, 32-25, with just under two minutes left on the clock before the break. Unfortunately, BU went icy from the hardwood during the same span and the Redhawks built a nine-point advantage, 34-25, with 43 ticks left on the clock. A strong defensive performance kept SEMO from scoring again before the buzzer but the Bruins were unable to make anything happen offensively and took the same deficit into the locker room.
The Bruins forced back-to-back turnovers to open the second stanza as Brooks netted two of her trademark jumpers from the elbow to move BU to within striking distance, 34-29. By the 17:05 mark, SEMO had amassed its greatest lead of the contest, 39-29, but Belmont began whittling away at it over the next several minutes. Four minutes later, Belmont turned on the afterburners and opened a massive rally to get back into the game. Sophomore Adrienne Tarrence (Bowling Green, Ky.) got things started with a steal and fast break layup to open up a 13-2 run that included baskets from senior Jordan Coleman (Orlando, Fla.), Luffman, sophomore Torie Vaught (Maryville, Tenn.), senior Katie Brooks (Maryville, Tenn.) and Carroll. At the end of the flurry, the Bruins had gained a five-point advantage, 51-46, with just over nine minutes left on the clock.
The Redhawks stormed back and two minutes later had closed the gap to a mere point, 51-50 after a pair of free throws by Allyson Bradshaw. Vaught answered back in convincing fashion with back-to-back jumpers, sandwiching a Bradshaw turnover caused by stringent BU defense. SEMO threatened again, moving to within three but that would be as close as it would come for the remainder of the contest. Belmont was able to expand its lead again behind a 6-1 run to go up, 61-53, with two and a half minutes left.
With just 1:56 left in regulation, Visbeen was fouled as she made a layup and saw the following and-one free-throw bounce off the rim before Luffman snatched the offensive rebound as BU gained its first double digit lead of the afternoon. Despite hitting three free throws in the waning seconds, SEMO was unable to recover from Belmont's lead as it continued to grow behind shots at the charity stripe by Tarrence, Luffman and Brooks. The Redhawks pushed for a layup in the final 18 seconds but BU held the ball and dribbled out the final seconds to secure the 71-58 win.
SEMO shot 36.4 percent from the floor, 26.3 percent from three-point range and 76.5 percent from the free-throw line.
The Redhawks were led in scoring by Bailie Roberts, who scored 18 points. Jordan Hunter and Allyson Bradshaw also reached double figures, adding 13 and 10 points, respectively. Patricia Mack led the team in rebounds with a game-high 11 boards.
Belmont shot 47.5 percent from the hardwood, 25 percent from behind the three-point arc and 73.3 percent from the charity stripe. The Bruins held the advantage in rebounds, 39-32, assists, 16-15, blocks, 6-2, and steals, 8-7.
Brooks led the Bruins with a game-high 21 points. Luffman matched her career-high of 13 points and sophomore Torie Vaught (Maryville, Tenn.) rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points. Seniors Jordan Coleman (Orlando, Fla.) and Alyssa Visbeen (Franklin, Tenn.) each pulled down seven rebounds. Visbeen finished with a career and game-high three blocks.
No. 12 LOUISVILLE 88, TENNESSEE STATE 25
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the final game of 2012, the Tennessee State University women’s basketball team fell to No. 12 ranked Louisville, 88-25, Monday night in front of a crowd of 9,023 at the KFC Yum! Center.
Tennessee State (4-8) struggled with the Big East opponent the entire night and only managed to shoot 16.7 percent (9-of-54) from the field. Louisville (12-2) made 55.9 percent (33-of-59) of its shots and outrebounded TSU, 51-23.
TSU committed 22 turnovers and recorded one assist in the contest while UofL had 16 turnovers and 24 helpers.
Chelsea Hudson led the Lady Tigers with eight points while Avery Jones pulled down a team-best five rebounds.
Louisville had five players to score in double digits led by Monique Reid’s 20 points.
A number of empty possessions, including ten turnovers, led to Tennessee State falling behind, 23-0, to open the first half. The Lady Tigers finally got on the board when Simone Hopes connected in the paint at the 12-minute mark.
Jasmin Shuler knocked down a three-pointer before Avery Jones made a couple of free-throws to make the score, 30-7.
With time winding down in the first frame, Kesi Hess nailed a triple, to make the score, 32-10, before Louisville scored eight unanswered to go into the halftime break leading, 40-10.
In the second stanza, Louisville outscored TSU, 11-2, to stretch the advantage to, 51-12, before the first media timeout.
Over the next seven minutes, Tennessee State suffered a scoring drought that saw Louisville swell the lead to, 63-12. Chelsea Hudson snapped the skid by knocking down a couple of freebies with 11:59 on the clock. The Lady Tigers outscored the Cardinals, 8-2, down the stretch but the deficit proved too much to overcome.
The Lady Tigers return to the court on Saturday, Jan. 5 at Jacksonville State in Ohio Valley Conference action. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. in Pete Mathew’s Coliseum.