SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Austin Peay 99, Brescia 63
@Kennesaw State 65,
Murray State 60
Southeast Missouri 48, @Central Arkansas 46
@Eastern Kentucky 63, Marshall 58
North Florida 54
@Tennessee State 53
@Clemson 76,
Tennessee Tech 61
@Missouri State 75,
SIUE 69
KENNESAW STATE 65, MURRAY STATE 60
KENNESAW, Ga. - Murray State women's basketball fell in a close matchup against Kennesaw State 65-60 Saturday at Kennesaw, Georgia. MSU is now 1-2 when playing Georgia teams in the state of Georgia, and falls to 6-5 overall against Georgia teams.
Right out of the gate Kennesaw State (6-2) would take the advantage 9-3. Murray State (3-6) would try to chip away at their lead, but could only tie up the score until the 4:46 mark when the Racers would take an 18-17 advantage. Those last four minutes would be a back and forth game between the two opponents. Netanya Jackson had 10 points and 10 rebounds before the first half clock would wind down to zero. Keiona Kirby would add nine points to aid in the Racers lead. MSU would go into the locker room with a 25-22 lead over the Owls.
The Racers came out of the locker room with the same momentum they had going into the half and took a 28-24. The Owls would chip away at the lead MSU had, but Murray State continued to hold on to a 36-32 lead. Kennesaw State would go on a 19-4 run to take the lead back 58-48 with just over two minutes left to play. The Owls would keep their lead and win the game 65-60.
Jackson ended the game with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Olivia Cunningham ended with a team high 18 points, while Kirby added 15 points. MSU shot .344 compared to the Owls .366 clip. Murray State was outrebounded by five.
Murray State will play Southern Illinois Dec. 16 at 12:05 p.m.
AUSTIN PEAY 99, BRESCIA 63
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - No Tearra Banks, no problem for Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team against Brescia, Saturday, at the Dunn Center. Despite not having the sophomore center due to an ankle injury, the Lady Govs rolled to a 99-63 victory against the Bearcats.
Making it back-to-back home wins, Austin Peay improves to 2-6 on the season and look to build on that home winning streak with upcoming contests against Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky at the Dunn Center.
The Lady Govs needed less than six minutes to push out to a 17-5 lead, thanks in large part to seven points from senior Kristen Stainback, and never looked back. The lead swelled to 20 with less than nine minutes remaining in the first half against the NAIA Division II foe and Austin Peay entered halftime firmly in command with a 54-23 lead, hitting their last five first-half shots.
After allowing opponents to shoot better than 40 percent from the floor in each of their last five contests, Austin Peay clamped down defensively against Brescia, holding the Bearcats to a 23.5 percent clip for the first half and 31.5 percent for the game.
The second half was a sloppier affair as the Lady Govs committed 13 turnovers in the half and they still could not control the rebounding under Brescia’s glass, allowing eight offensive rebounds. Austin Peay was able to push its lead to 40 points, but could not extend the lead past that point as its messy play undermined its offense.
Freshman Madison Rich led Austin Peay with 26 points, converting 4-of-7 from three-point range. Senior guard Tiasha Gray added a 23-point, eight-assist effort. Stainback rounded out the double-digit scoring with 15 points.
Whitfill led Brescia with 26 points, connecting on 6-of-10 outside the three-point arc. Kelsey Kirkpatrick supplied 13 points and Darrian McNary chipped in 11 points.
Austin Peay continues its homestand in one week when it hosts Southern Illinois in a 1 p.m., Saturday contest.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 48, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 46
CONWAY, Ark. - Southeast Missouri (3-5) used a 9-1 run over the final 3:11 to defeat Central Arkansas (4-4) 48-46 on Saturday afternoon at the Farris Center. Jasmine Robinson scored the go-ahead basket with 16 seconds remaining.
Robinson finished with a game-high 14 points and scored in double figures for the fifth consecutive game. Connor King added a game-best 12 rebounds, marking the fourth time in the last five contests that she has reached double digits on the boards.
For the 28th time during Margenthaler's tenure, Southeast held an opponent under 60 points. The Redhawks held UCA to a 31.5% (17-for-54) field goal percentage and only allowed one 3-pointer. Southeast shot 36.5% (19-for-52) from the field and 38.5% (5-for-13) from 3-point range.
The Redhawks opened the game by going ahead 5-2 before UCA went on an 8-0 to take a 10-5 lead with 13:36 left in the opening half.
Erin Bollmann drained her first career 3-pointer to pull the Redhawks within four at 14-10. Jasmine Robinson followed with a driving layup to cap a 7-0 run to cut the lead to two.
Southeast tied the game at 16 on a steal and layup by Ashton Luttrull with 8:28 left in the first half. The rest of the half would be a back-and-forth battle as UCA took a 23-21 halftime lead.
The Redhawks shot 34.6% (9-for-26) from the field and 42.9% (3-for-7) from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes. Robinson scored eight points in the opening half.
Kelsey McClure led the Sugar Bears in the first half with 10 points. As a team, UCA shot 32.3% (10-for-31) from the field and was limited to one 3-pointer in the first half.
Yelena Rosado pulled Southeast within one at 29-28 on a layup with 17:31 remaining and then gave the Redhawks a 30-29 lead with a basket with 15:08 left.
Bradshaw drained her second three of the game to pull ahead 34-31 with just over 12 minutes left in regulation. It marked the third straight game she has connected on two shots from 3-point range.
Raquel Logan made a go-ahead basket and drew a foul for UCA with 11:00 left. She made the ensuing free throw to give the Sugar Bears a 36-34 lead.
Brianna Mitchell drained a jumper to cut the lead to one at 40-39 with 4:43 left in the game.
UCA then went on a 5-0 run to take a 45-39 lead with 3:11 remaining. Bollmann made a short jumper in the paint to cut the deficit to four at 45-41 with just over two minutes remaining. Connor King then drained two free throws to trim the lead to two with 1:27 left.
Following a Rosado steal, King made a putback to tied the game at 45 with 58 seconds remaining.
After a UCA free throw, Robinson made a layup with 16 seconds left to give the Redhawks a 47-46 lead.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 63, MARSHALL 58
RICHMOND, Ky. - Junior Miranda Maples and sophomore Michaela Hunter each scored 12 points to lead the Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team to a 63-58 win over Marshall Saturday afternoon in McBrayer Arena.
The Colonels (4-3) have now won six straight meetings over Marshall (4-2) dating back to 1995.
Maples’ 12 points marked a season-high for the forward. Hunter, the team’s scoring leader, missed most of the first half with foul trouble, but bounced back to notch nine points, four steals and three assists in the second half. Meanwhile junior Jasmine Stafford came within one point of her first career double-double as the guard notched nine points and a career-best 11 rebounds.
Marshall had three players reach double-figure points led by Norrisha Victrum’s 13 tallies. Leah Scott, the Thundering Herd’s leading scorer, was held to a season-low eight points.
The contest was tight throughout with the largest lead by either team only six points. Hunter gave the Colonels the lead for good with a jumper at the 6:45 mark to make the score 45-44.
AJ Johnson hit two straight three-pointers for Marshall to keep the Thundering Herd within one point, 57-56, with 1:09 remaining. Marshall had a chance to take the lead on its ensuing possession, but missed a jumper.
EKU’s Shameekia Murray then hit her only three-pointer with 28 seconds left to extend the Colonel advantage to four points, 60-56. Hunter iced the contest by making two free throws with six ticks remaining.
The Colonels are back in action next Saturday, Dec. 13 following finals week. EKU travels to East Tennessee State to take on the Bucs with game time set for 7 p.m.
CLEMSON 76, TENNESSEE TECH 61
CLEMSON, S.C. - On a night when Jim Davis returned the Littlejohn Coliseum for the first time in nine years, it was the host Clemson Lady Tigers who did the celebrating following the game after they took down Davis' squad, 76-61.
Davis, who held the reigns at Clemson from 1987-2005, earning a spot in the Clemson Hall of Fame in 2008, was honored before the game as part of a special ceremony for the Lady Tigers Alumni Game. He was greeted at center court by Clemson's head coach Audra Smith with a plaque and tie from the Clemson staff.
Following the pleasantries, the game tipped off and the niceties went out the window.
The Lady Tigers opened the game with a 10-point advantage with 11:11 left in the half. Tech slowly clawed its way back in to the game behind the deep-range shooting of sophomore Catherine Taylor.
Taylor connected on all three of her long-range bombs, and helped the Golden Eagles go in the intermission down by just one at 36-37.
Tech was slow out of the gate in the second half, and the Lady Tigers built a lead of 14 points with 14:15 left in the game.
Again, TTU looked to fight its way back into the game. Between free throw shot opportunities and a defensive effort that created fast break offensive, Tech brought the score within two at 59-57.
Tech had an opportunity to take the lead at 5:48, but a three-point shot from the corner rattled around the rim before falling out, however Tech got the offensive board but was unsuccessful in converting the lay-up that changed the momentum.
Following the Lady Tigers defensive rebound off that lay-up, Clemson went on a 15-4 run to close out the game.
Tech was led by Taylor who finished with a career-high 13 points, while senior Candace Parson finished with 12 points, eight boards, a block and a steal. Freshman Yaktavia Hickson also added 12 points, while grabbing three boards, dishing out three assists, adding two blocks and a steal. Hannah Goolsby followed with nine points, grabbing five boards, four of which were offensive.
Clemson saw senior Nikki Dixon come off the bench to score a game-high 26 points, while Tiffany Lewis and Shelbie Davenport each added 11. Cha'nelle Perry and Fran Tagliapietra added 10 apiece.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, Dec. 13 as they head to Georgia State for a 1 p.m. CDT showdown.
NORTH FLORIDA 54, TENNESSEE STATE 53
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -A long-range buzzer-beater by North Florida sunk the Tennessee State women’s basketball team, 54-53, on Saturday night at the Gentry Center.
Chelsea Hudson led TSU (1-6) with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, but Brianna Morrow (11) and Jemilah Leonard (10) also scored in double figures.
The Lady Tigers were up, 50-49, when Hudson blocked a shot with a minute left. UNF (5-3) was forced to foul and TSU made three free throws to increase its lead to four with 15 seconds left.
Tennessee State fouled the Ospreys on their following possession and Paulina Zaveckaite nailed both shots from the charity stripe to cut the advantage to one.
An errant inbound pass went off of Hudson’s leg and out of bounds to give the Ospreys one last shot.
Destinee Smith caught the ball near mid-court and launched it 30 feet into the bottom of the net for the winning basket.
It was a fitting end to a game that featured 19 lead changes and the largest of which was just six points.
TSU had a tough time of it early on and started 2-of-15 from the field. Fortunately, the Lady Tigers’ defense forced nine turnovers through the game’s first 10 minutes and the score was tied, 9-9.
The sides played it close for the next eight minutes, with neither able to grab more than a one-possession advantage. UNF
eventually went up by six when Smith canned a three at the 1:51 mark, but Brianna Lawrence answered with a triple of her own on
TSU’s next possession to draw within three at halftime, 25-22.
UNF went on a 7-2 run early in the second stanza to go up, 39-34. However, Tennessee State scored six straight points from that point to take the lead with nine minutes to play.
The teams went back and forth, but TSU still led by one, 50-49, with one minute left in the game.
The Lady Tigers forced a whopping 31 turnovers, but the Ospreys won the battle of the boards (37 to 29) and made 5-of-11 three-pointers, including the game-winner.
Tennessee State will look to end its four-game losing streak on Dec. 15 when the team travels to Texas A&M Corpus-Christi. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.
MISSOURI STATE 75, SIUE 69
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri State survived 10 lead changes and 14 ties Saturday to defeat SIUE women's basketball 75-69 at JQH Arena.
The Cougars fell to 2-5 this season despite a season-best 21-point effort from Shronda Butts and a season-high 20 points from Tierny Austin.
Missouri State won its home opener and first game of the season. Lexi Hughes came off the bench to lead five players in double figures with 22 points, including four three-pointers.
The Cougars got off to a good start in front of the 2,490 fans at JQH Arena.
Donshel Beck put the Cougars ahead 9-7 with a pair of free throws with 13:54 left, and a field goal 15 seconds later by Beck put SIUE ahead by four.
Missouri State regained the lead 12-11 on free throws by Aubrey Buckley with 11:15 to play and would lead the rest of the first half. The game remained mostly a one possession game until the Bears went on a 17-5 run to end the first half punctuated by a jumper by Hillary Chvatal with three seconds left.
Missouri State went to the free throw line 33 times in the game and shot 75.8 percent from the charity stripe. The Cougars also were strong from the line in the game, converting 21 of 25 free throws.
Buscher challenged her team to step up at halftime, and the Cougars responded with a 19-3 run to start the second half. Butts hit a short jumper with 14:27 to put SIUE back on top 44-43 with 14:27 left to play.
SIUE and Missouri State went back and forth for most of the half. SIUE's final lead of 67-65 was off a pair of free throws by Austin with 2:06 left.
After Kenzie Williams tied the game at 1:52 to play with a jumper, Chvatal, who finished with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, put Missouri State ahead for good with her jumper with 1:09 to play. The Bears would then hit six straight free throws in the final 50 seconds of the game for the victory.
SIUE had one more field goal than Missouri State for the game and shot better from the field. SIUE hit 45.1 percent (23-51) from the field while Missouri State was 22 of 60 (36.7 percent) from the field.
SIUE now has eight days to prepare for its next road contest. The Cougars travel to Omaha, Neb., to take on Omaha Dec. 14 at 2 p.m.