MONDAY'S SCORES
Murray State 56, @Morehead State 48
Tennessee Tech 64, @Southeast Missouri 51
@SIUE 75, Tennessee State 69
MURRAY STATE 56, MOREHEAD STATE 48
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Visiting Murray State outscored the host Morehead State women’s basketball team 36-12 over a 19-minute span Monday night as the Racers defeated the Eagles 56-48 at Johnson Arena.
Morehead State shot out to a 14-2 lead in the opening eight minutes of the contest and held a 16-5 lead at the 11:14 point. But, the Racers outscored the Eagles 20-6 over the next 10 minutes and then scored 16 of the first 19 in the final half as they improved to 16-11 overall and 8-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Morehead State slipped to 9-19 and 5-9 in the league.
Murray State won for just the second time in the last six meetings with the Eagles at Johnson Arena. The Racers held the Eagles to three field goals in the final 11 minutes of the opening half and just two in a 17-minute span in the second frame.
Erika Sisk topped the visitors with 16 points, while Keiona Kirby notched 14, and Mariah Robinson had 11. Kelsey Dirks blocked five shots.
Junior guard Terrice Robinson led the Eagles in scoring for the 17th time this year with 18 points. She also hit 8-of-8 at the free throw line to give her 16 straight charity tosses in the last two contests. Junior guard Allie Turner hit a trio of three-pointers and registered 11 points, her third double figure effort in the last four games.
Sophomore forward Mackenzie Arledge pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds and had three blocks, her third double-figure rebounding game this season.
Morehead State hit 46 percent (10-of-22) in the opening stanza but fashioned just a 24 percent (6-of-25) efficiency in the second half. Murray State hit 41 percent (12-of-29) in the deciding half after managing just 33 percent (9-of-27) in the opening 20 minutes.
Morehead State held a 14-3 rebounding edge in the game’s first six minutes, but the Racers finished with a slight 34-29 advantage on the boards.
TENNESSEE TECH 64, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 51
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Brittany Harriel posted her ninth-career double-double, but it wasn't enough to keep pace with Tennessee Tech in Monday's 64-51 loss on Senior Night at the Show Me Center.
Harriel finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds in her final home game, leading the Redhawks (10-18, 4-11 Ohio Valley) in both categories.
The Golden Eagles (16-11, 10-4 OVC) scored on their first possession to open up a 2-0 lead. The teams went scoreless over the next three minutes before Kara Wright's free throw put the Redhawks on the board. TTU's lead eventually grew to 8-3 advantage nearly five minutes into the contest before Brittany Harriel's jumper brought Southeast within three.
A Kellie Cook three-pointer was followed by a steal and Golden Eagle basket to put them up 13-5 with 13:32 showing on the clock. Southeast pulled to within seven (16-9) after Harriel's layup, but Jala Harris converted a layup and Cook hit another three to balloon TTU's lead to 21-9 at the 9:46 mark of the opening stanza.
With Southeast still down 12, Bailie Roberts scored in transition while Harriel canned a three to pull the score to 25-18 with 4:46 left in the first. The Golden Eagles would not allow the Redhawks to get closer in the first as Diamond Henderson made a jumper then a three-pointer to make it a 12-point game once again.
Harriel's layup and two Roberts free throws brought whittled TTU's lead down to 30-22 with 2:13 left, but Harris scored five-straight points to give the Golden Eagles their largest lead of the first half at 35-22 with just over a minute left. Harriel made two free throws to close the gap to 35-24 at halftime, finishing the half with 11 of the Redhawks' 24 points.
After trading baskets in the first minute of the half, TTU went on an 8-0 run that extended its lead to 45-26 with 15:44 to go.
Dru Haertling made a layup and Allyson Bradshaw connected on a baseline jumper as the Redhawks closed the gap to 15 points. After two TTU free throws, Bradshaw drained her first three of the game to bring the Redhawks within 47-33. Haertling followed by splitting two free throws and cutting Southeast's deficit to 13 points with 11:15 to go.
After two more free throws by the Golden Eagles, Bradshaw got three points the old fashioned way by hitting a baseline jumper and hitting the ensuing free throw after being fouled. Southeast got two more stops and Haertling was true from three-point range, bringing the score to 49-40 in favor of TTU with 9:39 left.
Olivia Hackmann hit a jumper from the foul line for her first points of the night nearly two minutes later and Southeast was within 49-42, the closest it had been since TTU's 25-18 lead with under five minutes left in the first half.
The Golden Eagles got baskets from T'Keyah Williams and Kylie Cook to go back up by 11, but Harriel's three on the ensuing possession cut the gap back to eight points (53-45). Williams followed with another basket and Davis drilled a three to cap a 9-3 TTU run that upped its lead to 58-45 with 4:13 to go. Baskets by Wright and Harriel cut Southeast's deficit to nine points at the 2:27 mark, but that was as close as the game got the rest of the night.
Tennessee Tech shot 40 percent from the field while Southeast hit 35.1 percent of its shots. TTU connected on 8-of-19 shots from beyond the arc, Southeast countered with 4-of-19 three-point shooting. Tech made 12-of-13 free throws while Southeast went 7-of-11 at the charity stripe. The Redhawks held a 39-34 advantage on the glass, though committed 16 turnovers against the Golden Eagles' 10 miscues.
Harriel was the only Redhawk in double figures for both points and rebounds. TTU had four players in double figures with Harris and Davis scoring 15 apiece, Henderson scoring 11 and Williams posted a 10-point, 13 rebound double-double.
SIUE 75, TENNESSEE STATE 69
EDWARDSVILLE, Il. - In a hard fought battle, the Tennessee State University women’s basketball team dropped a, 75-69, decision to SIU Edwardsville Monday night in the Vadalabene Center.
Tennessee State (11-14, 7-7 OVC) was led in scoring by Jasmin Shuler ‘s season-high 25 points while Kesi Hess added 21. Simone Hopes led the Lady Tigers with eight rebounds and Rachel Allen dished out nine assists.
SIU Edwardsville (14-13, 8-7 OVC) qualified for the OVC Tournament with the win and was led in scoring by Tierny Austin’s 16 points. Raven Berry had a double-double with 15 points and 18 rebounds.
TSU shot 32.4 percent from the field, including 32.0 percent from the three-point line. The Lady Tigers lost the battle of the boards, 54-36, and made 15-of-23 (65.2 percent) from the free-throw line.
SIUE made 42 percent of its shots from the field and 45.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Cougars made 28-of-45 free-throws in the contest.
The game was knotted at 4-all when Kesi Hess knocked down a three-pointer that sparked an 11-4 run to put the Lady Tigers on top, 18-8. SIUE scored the next two buckets but TSU answered with back-to- back triples to make the score, 24-12, in favor of TSU.
With 7:23 on the clock, Tennessee State extended its lead to 29-16 when Tanesha Stenson knocked down the Lady Tigers’ fifth three-pointer of the half. From there, however, TSU went cold and only made one more a field goal for the rest of the frame. During TSU’s drought, SIUE used a 16-2 run to take the lead, 32-31, with 54 seconds on the clock.
TSU went into the locker room leading, 35-32, after Brianna Lawrence and Kesi Hess each made two free-throws as the half came to a close.
The teams played to a 55-55 deadlock midway through the second half before SIUE scored four unanswered to go ahead. The Lady Tigers battled back to within one on a free-throw by Simone Hopes but the Cougars once again created a little distance, 67-61.
The Cougars stretched the advantage to, 71-63, with just under two minutes remaining when Kesi Hess connected from the top of the key to cut the deficit down to five.
TSU pulled to within three with 59 seconds left but the Lady Tigers ran out of time. SIUE was able to hold on for the win.