MONDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 88, @Morehead State 45
@Eastern Kentucky 62, Tennessee Tech 54
Murray State 68, @Tennessee Tech 52
Austin Peay 78, @Jacksonville State 71
@SIUE 78, Southeast Missouri 65
@Eastern Illinois 84, UT Martin 79
BELMONT 88, MOREHEAD STATE 45
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Belmont’s women’s basketball team opened the game on a 14-0 run Monday night and never looked back in defeating the host Morehead State Eagles, 88-45, at Johnson Arena.
The Bruins shot 65 percent (35-of-54) for the game, including 78 percent (21-of-27) in the final half, in handing the Eagles
The Ohio Valley Conference-leading Bruins improved to 13-9 overall and 8-2 in the league’s East Division, while the Eagles dropped their second straight and fell to 7-15 overall and 3-5 in the same division.
Molly Ernst drilled six three-pointers to lead the Bruins with 18 points. Alyssa Visbeen took control in the paint, scoring 16 points, while Katie Brooks notched 15 on 7-of-8 from the field. The Bruins held advantages in points in the paint (32-14), points off turnovers (26-12) and second-chance points (12-2).
MSU sophomore forward Casey Ryans scored a career-high 17 points for her team while also corralling a team-high seven rebounds. The Bruins out-rebounded the hosts, 34-20.
The Bruins hit 10 of their first 11 field goals and raced out to a 19-3 lead. MSU outscored the visitors 18-14 the remainder of the half but still trailed 33-21 at the break. The Bruins scored 10 of the first 12 in the second period and pushed their lead to 43-24 in the first three minutes. The final margin was the Bruins’ largest lead.
MSU shot just 33 percent (14-of-42) for the game and had 18 turnovers.
MURRAY STATE 68, TENNESSEE TECH 52
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Senior Mariah Robinson led a balanced scoring effort and helped the Murray State Racers to a 68-52 Ohio Valley Conference women’s basketball victory Monday night over Tennessee Tech in Eblen Center.
The Racers (13-7/6-3 OVC) have won four in a row and five of their last six, and are within one game of West Division leader Eastern Illinois. The Golden Eagles (11-10/5-3 OVC) are third in the East Division standings, and heading to division leader Belmont on Saturday.
Shooting troubles doomed Tech, which trailed the entire game after falling behind 9-0 in the opening minutes.
Robinson finished the night with 16 points, one of two Racers in double digits. Erika Sisk added 12 points, while six different players record at least five points in the road victory. Erica Burgess scored none, Tessa Elkins had eight, and Keiona Kirby finished with seven.
Jessica Winfrey led the way on the boards with 14 rebounds, but the Golden Eagles owned a slim, 40-37 advantage overall on the glass.
Diamond Henderson was Tech’s lone double-digit scorer with 17 while Jala Harris added nine. Tech also saw balanced scoring as seven different Golden Eagles scored four or more points.
As deadly as the Golden Eagles were Saturday from long range, they had trouble zeroing in Monday, going 0-for-7 from outside the arc in the first half and 1-for-10 for the game.
The Racers, meanwhile, were filling it up from outside the arc, going 7-for-12 in the first half for 58.3 percent as six different players buried a trey. Murray State finished the game 10-for-18 from long distance for 55.6 percent, a higher mark than inside the arc (16-for-36 for 44.4 percent).
MSU pulled on top 9-0 in the opening minutes, and held a 10-point lead, 12-2, with 12:49 to play in the half.
The Golden Eagles went to work and stitched together a 13-5 run to pull within one point, 17-16, with 7:46 remaining with Molly Heady, Harris and Henderson doing most of the scoring.
But a 3-pointer by Bianca Babic, layup from Robinson and trey by Elkins opened Murray State’s lead back to nine. Tech’s shooting continued to haunt the Golden Eagles, and the Racers up 35-20 with 3:20 remaining.
Neither team scored again until Kylie Cook’s layup beat the halftime buzzer and made it a 13-point difference at the break. Tech missed nine straight shots during the stretch, including four layups.
Only once in the second half did Tech really challenge, pulling to within 10 at 40-30 with 14:21 to play to a layup by Mariah Dean.
Kirby and Robinson each scored quickly after that and the lead was back to 14. Murray maintained a comfortable margin the rest of the way, going up by 20 points twice late in the contest.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 62, TENNESSEE TECH 54
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team improved to 10-1 at home this season thanks to a 62-54 victory over Tennessee State Monday night in McBrayer Arena. The Lady Colonels used an 8-0 run in the waning minutes to secure the win.
Eastern (12-7, 6-2 OVC) has now won five straight meetings over Tennessee State (8-11, 4-4).
Junior guard Marie Carpenter paced the Lady Colonels with 19 points, the most points she has scored in an OVC game this year. Meanwhile, senior center Jade Barber chipped in with her 10th double-double – 15 points, 15 rebounds.
For Tennessee State, Simone Hopes and Jasmin Shuler combined for 33 points.
The visiting Lady Tigers jumped on top early, 10-2, as EKU netted just one of its first 13 field goal attempts. Tennessee State led the entire first half and would go up by as many as 11 points following a Hopes lay-up, 23-12.
Eastern had its worst home shooting half of the season in the first 20 minutes (19.4 percent), but managed to end the stanza on a 6-1 run to stay within striking distance at intermission, 24-18.
The Lady Colonels continued to roll early in the second half with nine straight points, highlighted by a Carpenter three-pointer, to take a 27-24 lead. After TSU briefly went back on top at 28-27, Eastern rattled off 11 more points in a row, capped by a Raechele Gray trifecta, to build a 38-28 cushion.
Eastern Kentucky’s lead eventually ballooned to 13 points following a Jalisa Bryant three-pointer with 10:29 left, 43-30. However, Tennessee State slowly clawed its way back into the game and regained the lead when Kesi Hess drilled a three-pointer to make the score 49-48 with five minutes remaining.
Moments later, senior Brittany Coles gave Eastern the lead for good with a put-back in the lane. The Lady Colonels reeled off six more points in a row, including lay-ups from Barber and Coles, to stretch the lead back to eight points, 57-49, with less than a minute to play.
Tennessee State never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
Tennessee State head coach Larry Joe Inman made his first return to EKU since retiring as the Lady Colonels head coach in 2008. Inman was 319-244 in 20 years as Eastern Kentucky head coach and is a member of the EKU Athletics Hall of Fame.
AUSTIN PEAY 78, JACKSONVILLE STATE 71
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Senior Leslie Martinez scored 16 second-half points to help Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team record its first Ohio Valley Conference win, 78-71, against Jacksonville State, Monday night at Mathews Coliseum.
Austin Peay (6-15, 1-7 OVC) trailed by eight points at halftime and Martinez was largely quiet in the opening half, playing just nine minutes and scoring two points. However, the Lady Govs senior guard opened the second half with a bang, scoring the team’s first 10 points – making a jumper, a lay-up, a conventional three-point play and hitting a three-pointer – to pull the Lady Govs back into a tie at 49-49 just 4:23 into the half.
The Lady Govs would take the lead for good on sophomore Shira Buley’s layup at the 14:45 mark but could not build a secure advantage until late in the contest. The Lady Govs used a 7-0 run with Martinez and senior Meghan Bussabarger scoring on jumpers to build a 10-point, 72-62, lead with 3:29 left.
However, Jacksonville State scored the game’s next six points and slashed that lead to four points, 72-68, less than two minutes later. Bussabarger stopped the run with a fast-break layup and freshman Tiasha Gray secured the six-point lead with another layup and the Gamecocks would not threaten the game’s remainder.
Jacksonville State (0-22, 0-10 OVC) nearly shot Austin Peay out of the gym in the opening period, making nine three-pointers and shooting 64.3 percent from outside the arc in the frame. The Gamecocks built a 10-point lead 10 minutes into the period following Amanada McCarty’s three-pointer.
Austin Peay’s bench pulled it back into the game, scoring the game’s next nine points. The Lady Govs reserves accounted for 24 of the team’s 39 points in the opening frame. Sophomore Kristen Stainback scored 11 points and Gray added nine points in the half. However, Jacksonville State closed the half with an 8-0 run to take a 47-39 halftime lead.
Martinez led all scorers with 18 points, on 7-of-15 shooting, and handed out a game-best seven assists. Bussabarger added 17 points while Gray chipped in 12 points and seven steals.
Candace Morton led Jacksonville State with 15 points and seven rebounds. Miranda Cantrell and Dashauna Truss each had 10 points. After making nine three-pointers in the opening half, Jacksonville State was 1-of-9 from outside in the second half.
SIUE 78, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 65
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - On the night she would become SIUE's all-time leader in rebounds, senior Raven Berry scored a career-high 28 points and set career highs for free throws made (14) and free throws attempted (17).
SIUE improved to 11-10 overall and 5-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 78-65 triumph over Southeast Missouri at the Vadalabene Center. The loss sent SEMO to 8-13 overall and 2-6 in the OVC.
The night started slow for Berry. She didn't grab her first of a game-high 13 rebounds until the 9:56 mark of the first half.
She would go on to break the record previously held by former All-American Kim (Lowe) Thompson who played for the Cougars from 1995 to 1998. Her record-breaking rebound came at the 2:11 mark of the first half. She missed a shot, grabbed the offensive rebound, and put the ball back into the basket to tie the score 20-20.
Berry, who notched her seventh double-double of the season and the 31st of her career, began to set herself apart from the previous rebound record holder in the second half with 11 more rebounds. She now has 928 rebounds.
The two teams were nearly even at halftime. Both shot 10 of 30 from the field. SEMO had four more three-pointers made. SIUE had five more free throws made for a 26-25 lead at the half.
SIUE and SEMO tied the score 11 times in the game, and the two squads exchanged leads 10 times.
The Cougars separated themselves from the Redhawks midway through the second half. After Bailie Roberts hit a jumper with 9:15 left to play to tie the score for the 11th time, SIUE responded with a 15-0 run over the next 5 1/2 minutes of play.
CoCo Moore matched her career high with 17 points for SIUE. Tierny Austin scored 10 for her eighth straight double-digit scoring outing.
Kara Wright, who led the Redhawks with 22 points, broke up SIUE's game-busting run with a three-pointer with 3:32 left in the game. SEMO, which picked up 17 points off the bench from Allyson Bradsaw, would only get as close as nine points for the rest of the game.
The Cougars finished the game shooting 43.9 percent from the field (25-57) and 81.3 percent from the free throw line (26-32).
EASTERN ILLINOIS 84, UT MARTIN 79
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Panther women’s basketball team remained in first place of the Ohio Valley Conference’s West Division on Monday night, defeating UT Martin, 84-79, at Lantz Arena. EIU improves to 13-8 overall and 7-2 in OVC play.
The Skyhawks (10-13, 5-4 OVC) opened the game with a 15-5 run to take their largest lead of the contest before the Panthers responded with a 15-4 run, taking a one-point advantage (20-19) with 7:46 left in the first half. EIU never trailed for the duration of the game and had a 39-31 halftime lead.
UT Martin got within two points (75-73) with 4:17 left in the contest, but the Panthers would go 9-for-12 from the foul line down the stretch to seal the victory. Defensively, EIU held the OVC’s top scoring team to only six points in the final three minutes of action on 1-for-7 shooting.
Senior Mariah King led the Panther offense with 23 points on 7-for-9 shooting. The senior forward scored 19 of her 23 points in the second stanza while also going 9-for-11 from the foul line. King also had 10 rebounds for her eighth career double-double.
Senior Sydney Mitchell also scored 17 points for EIU while classmate Kelsey Wyss rounded out the double-figure scoring with 14 points. Wyss is nine three pointers away from becoming the school’s all-time leader in made three pointers. Senior Ta’Kenya Nixon posted a double-double with a game-high 11 assists to go along with 10 rebounds. Nixon also added eight points and a game-high three blocks.
The Panthers grabbed three more rebound than the Skyhawks (41-38) on the night and recorded three more steals (8-5). EIU also dished out a season-high 24 assists.
The Panthers hit 46.7 percent of their shot attempts, going 28-for-60 from the floor. EIU also went 10-for-26 from behind the arc and 18-for-27 from the foul line. UT Martin finished the day connecting on 41.4 percent of its field-goal attempts (29-for-70).
Jasmine Newsome led the Skyhawks with 28 points, seven assists and three steals. Heather Butler added 25 points and a team-high eight assists while Rickiesha Bryant chipped in a double-double with a game-high 15 rebounds and 10 points.