2014 OVC Women's Basketball Championship - First Round

3/5/2014 8:15:02 AM

#5 EASTERN KENTUCKY 75, #8 EASTERN ILLINOIS 52
NASHVILLE - The No. 5 seed Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team dispatched No. 8 Eastern Illinois, 75-52, on Wednesday at Municipal Auditorium to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2014 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

The Lady Colonels (16-12, 9-7 OVC) will face No. 4 Tennessee State (12-17, 9-7 OVC) on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. ET. EKU has now advanced to the OVC quarterfinals three straight years.

Senior Marie Carpenter finished with a game-best 24 points for EKU. She moved to fifth place on Eastern Kentucky’s all-time scoring list with 1,596 points. Freshman Michaela Hunter contributed 17 points and seven assists, while fellow freshman Cierra Drake scored a career-high 12 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Eastern Kentucky closed the second half on a 12-3 run to turn a three-point lead into a 12-point advantage at the break. Carpenter and Hunter each had four points during the run.

After Eastern Illinois opened the second half with a pair of free throws, Eastern Kentucky scored seven straight to move out in front by 17, 44-27, with 14:51 on the clock. Sophomore Shelly Harper scored four of the seven. The Panthers answered with an 8-0 run to close the gap to nine, but that is as close as they would get.

Hunter put an end to the EIU run with a three-pointer with 11:22 to go. The Lady Colonels went back on top by 17, 56-39, on Carpenter’s three-pointer. A basket by Harper stretched the margin to 20-plus for the first time, 69-48, with 4:33 left in the game. Hunter’s jumper with 2:26 remaining gave Eastern Kentucky its largest lead of 25, 75-50.

EKU shot 43 percent from the field while Eastern Illinois made just 32 percent of its shots. The Panthers were 1-of-9 from three-point range (11.1 percent).

Eastern Kentucky committed five fewer turnovers (12-17) and out-rebounded EIU by five (42-37). The Lady Colonels turned 13 offensive rebounds into 20 second chance points.

Sabina Oroszova led Eastern Illinois with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

#6 JACKSONVILLE STATE 71, #7 SIUE 59
NASHVILLE -- Jacksonville State wanted to prove it was more than just excited to make the Ohio Valley Conference Women's Tournament for the first time since 2011 and it made a statement with a 71-59 thumping of Southern Illinois Edwardsville on Wednesday in the opening round of the tournament.

The 12-point win over the No. 7 seed Cougars propels the Gamecocks to the quarterfinals and a rubber match with No. 3 seed Tennessee Tech. The two squads split the two-game season series with both winning on its home floor. JSU moved to 13-17 overall on the season and inches closer to matching the 2004-05 season in which the program went 15-14. SIUE, who entered the game winners of sixth out of its last season games, closed out the season at 11-19. The double digit win was the largest margin of victory for JSU in an OVC Tournament contest.

Jax State showed minimal postseason jitters as it jumped out to a quick start thanks to freshman Briana Benson's pair of three-point baskets in the first three minutes of the contest. After jumping out 8-2 on the Cougars, they rallied to take their largest lead of the entire contest at 17-13 with just over ten minutes left in the opening half. JSU, who had 17 points off the bench, regained the lead at 20-19 on LeCresha Horton's jumper with 8:13 left to play. After taking the lead, the Gamecocks never looked back as they expanded the lead out to as many as 12 points in the first half at 36-24 on Benson's trey with 1:50 left in the half. Her trey capped off a 16-5 run to take the largest lead of the half. SIUE trimmed the deficit to under double digits at 37-28 heading in to the halftime break. JSU hit 46 percent from the field and knocked down five three-pointers - all coming in the opening half.

Sophomore Destany McLin repeated her performance that she had last Saturday against Belmont. McLin sparked JSU's second half 34-point performance with 15 of her 18 total points coming in the second half. The Gamecocks stormed out of the locker room to push the lead back out to double figures and eventually took their largest lead of the game at 17 points, 47-30, at the 16-minute mark. JSU would maintain that double digit gap throughout the rest of the game to post the 12-point win. Sophomore Destany James matched her career-high of ten points, with seven coming in the final 20 minutes. The Bartlett, Tenn.-native was 3-for-3 from the field and 4-of-7 from the free throw line in her 21 minutes off the bench.

JSU hit 16-of-31 from the field in the second half for 51 percent and finished the game slightly under 50 percent shooting. SIUE had the height advantage in the post, but that did not affect the Gamecocks attacking the boards. The Cougars, who ranked second in the OVC in rebounding margin and entered the game averaging over 40 rebounds, were limited to just 32 total rebounds, while JSU had a plus-13 margin in the affair. Jax State out-rebounded SIUE, 45-32, and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds which led to 17 second chance points.

McLin led five Gamecocks who registered double figures in the scoring column. The last time JSU had five players in double figure scoring numbers was last season at Eastern Kentucky. Candace Morton, who was named Second Team All-OVC on Tuesday backed up that selection with 14 points and two rebounds shy of her second consecutive double-double. Morton was 6-of-13 from the field in her 37 minutes of action and was credited with a pair of blocks - matching her career high in blocks. Junior Miranda Cantrell added ten points and eight rebounds in the win. Cantrell scored six critical points in the final 20 minutes. Benson and James added ten points.

SIUE's Tierny Austin, who didn't play against JSU in the regular season, finished with 18 points off the bench. Micah Jones, a member of the league's All-Newcomer Team, added 15 points in the setback.