SATURDAY'S SCORES
UT Martin 72, @Murray State 60
@Eastern Kentucky 69, Austin Peay 55
@Eastern Illinois 60, Belmont 43
@Jacksonville State 60, Southeast Missouri 57
UT MARTIN 72, MURRAY STATE 60
MURRAY, Ky. - After an early 3-pointer from UT Martin’s Heather Butler, the Racers (15-11, 7-7) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. However, the Skyhawks (14-14, 8-6) would then take off on a 20-4 run and lead by 12 with less than eight minutes to go. Despite the large lead, the Racers were able to end the frame on a 10-0 run of their own and trailed by just 11 at the break.
In the second half, the Racers got off to a hot start and were able to cut the lead to only six, just over a minute in to the stanza. After MSU’s run, UT Martin mounted a 23-4 run to make the lead nearly insurmountable. Murray State was able to cut lead to nine with 1:12 to play, but that would be as close as they would get and eventually fell by 12.
Senior Mariah Robinson led the Racers with 16 points, while freshman Erika Sisk followed closely behind with 14. Kelsey Dirks led MSU in the rebound column in the contest with nine, to go along with five points.
UT Martin’s Jasmine Newsome led all scorers with 31 points, while Butler followed behind with 18. Rickiesha Bryant notched the game’s only double-double by scoring 13 points and pulling down 15 boards. Bryant was just two blocks shy of a triple double, as she notched a game-high eight swats.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 69, AUSTIN PEAY 55
RICHMOND, Ky. - In possibly her last game in McBrayer Arena, senior Alex Jones delivered season highs in both points and rebounds to lead the Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team to a 69-55 win over Austin Peay Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Colonels (17-8, 11-3 OVC) finish their 2012-13 home schedule with a 13-1 record in the friendly confines of McBrayer Arena.
Jones, a native of Elizabethtown, Ky., tallied a season-high 16 points to go along with a program single-game record of 21 rebounds. This also marked her 11th double-double of the season and 35th of her career. Jones moved into second place on EKU’s career rebounding chart in the middle of the first half. She now stands with 993 career rebounds.
Meanwhile, junior Marie Carpenter chipped in with 16 points, 14 of which came in the final 20 minutes.
Meghan Bussabarger paced Austin Peay (7-19, 2-12) with 18 points. Tiasha Gray added a career-high 16 points and Alexis Hardaway tallied a personal-high 15 rebounds.
The first half featured 10 lead changes and two ties. Eastern finished the stanza on a 7-2 run to take a slim 25-23 edge into intermission.
Two Bussabarger free throws with 11:31 left gave the Lady Govs a 37-35 lead. From there, the Lady Colonels put together a 15-4 run over the next four minutes and would not trail the rest of the way. Carpenter contributed seven of EKU’s 15 points during that spurt.
Eastern eventually stretched its cushion to as many as 16 points in the final minute of play. The Lady Colonels managed to win despite shooting just 32.4 percent (24-of-74) from the field, their lowest shooting night of the year in McBrayer Arena.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 66, BELMONT 43
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois clamped down on defense Saturday afternoon and the Panthers locked up the Ohio Valley Conference West Division title with a 60-43 win over Belmont in women’s basketball action. EIU will be guaranteed a one or two seed in the OVC Tournament which starts March 6 in Nashville.
The Panthers limited the Bruins to just 24 percent shooting from the field as they improved to 19-8 overall, 12-2 in the OVC. Belmont slipped to 15-12, 9-5 in the OVC. EIU plays at UT Martin on Thursday night with a 7 p.m. start.
Both teams struggled to find any offense in the early going as Belmont let 7-6 with 11:48 left to play in the first half after Adrienne Tarrence hit one of two free throws. EIU then went on a 13-4 run over the next for minutes as Kelsey Wyss drained a 3-pointer with 7:29 to play to put the Panthers up 19-11.
Ta’Kenya Nixon added three free throws and a pair of jumpers in the final 1:44 of action as EIU stretched the lead to double figures. Nixon finished with 23 points making 11-of-12 free throws. She tied Rachel Galligan’s mark for career free throws made with 523. Nixon added nine rebounds and six assists.
Katie Brooks banked in a 3-pointer from half court as time expired to cut EIU’s halftime lead to 28-17.
EIU kept the margin at double figures the entire second half taking a 20-point lead with 8:18 left to play as Nixon was again good from the free throw line giving the Panthers a 47-27 lead.
Jordyne Crunk’s 3-pointer with 4:56 to play put EIU up 56-32, its largest margin of the afternoon. EIU was j5-of-12 from 3-point range shooting but finished shooting just 38 percent from the field. Sydney Mitchell was the only other Panther to reach double figures with 11 points. Mitchell had nine rebounds as EIU won the battle on the glass, 46-37.
Jordan Coleman led Belmont with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Jordyn Luffman had ten points.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 60, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 57
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State women's basketball team sent it two seniors out in grand fashion with a thrilling 60-57 win over Southeast Missouri on Saturday evening at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The win snapped a 26-game skid this season and a streak that dates back to the final ten games of last season. The last Jax State win came on Jan. 14 at Austin Peay. The Gamecocks were victorious for the first time on the home floor since a Dec. 4, 2011 win over in-state rival Troy. The win over SEMO is the first since January of 2011 in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
After the Gamecocks had maintained a lead since the 18:41 mark of the first half, Southeast Missouri's Allyson Bradshaw drilled a three-point basket with 36 seconds left in the contest to knot it at 57-all. Sophomore Candace Morton hit the first of a two-shot free throw opportunity to re-gain the lead at 58-57 with 17 seconds left to play. Sophomore Miranda Cantrell pulled down her ninth rebound on the missed free throw and connected on one of two at the line to give JSU a two-point, 59-57 advantage.
The Jax State defense stood tall on SEMO's next trip down the floor and forced the Redhawks' 15th turnover of the game. Freshman Destany McLin sealed the win with a free throw with one second left.
Jax State built a double digit lead by the 8:12 mark of the opening half after McLin knocked down a trey. McLin, from Athens, Ala., turned in 15 points off the bench. It was also her best scoring outing of the season and the fourth time this season she has posted double figures in the scoring column. JSU would take a nine-point, 31-22 lead in to the halftime break. The Gamecocks forced 10 SEMO turnovers in the first 20 minutes and scored 14 of their 31 points off those miscues. The Red and White, who had just five turnovers in the first half, finished with 12 turnovers – the second-lowest this season (11 vs. Kennesaw State).
Playing in her final home game of her Jax State career, Danielle Vaughn turned in her 20th double-double of her career and the 44th game of her career in double figures scoring. The Huntsville, Ala.-post player scored eight of her final 10 points in the first half to spark the Gamecocks' offense. Vaughn pulled down 11 rebounds in 31 minutes of action. Cantrell continued her string of double figures in the scoring column to six games with 15 points and nine rebounds. She matched her career high in assists with three.
Fellow senior Amanda McCarthy added five points and a pair of boards in her home finale. Morton turned in six points and seven rebounds in the win.
JSU withstood a SEMO run in the second half after it matched its biggest lead of the contest at 45-32 at the 11:49 mark. The Redhawks got within a point at 55-54 with 1:19 left after a Brittany Harriel jumper. JSU's next possession resulted in a basket by McLin before Bradshaw's game-tying trey.
SEMO was led by Bradshaw's 15 points, followed by Harriel's 14-point effort.