TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee State 75, Lane College 44
Southern Miss 69,
Tennessee Tech 57
@Jacksonville State 67, Alcorn State 65
SIUE 65, @Illinois State 57
TENNESSEE STATE 75, LANE COLLEGE 44
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee State women’s basketball team earned its third straight win with 75-44 victory over Lane College on Tuesday night in the Gentry Center.
Tennessee State used a strong first half, shooting 48.6 from the field, to take early control of the game.
The Lady Tigers (4-3) had three players score in double-digits. Jayda Johnson led with 16 points and two rebounds, followed by I’mani Davis with 11 points, four rebounds and Brianna Lawrence with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Lane College (0-6) had two players score in double-digits on the night. Tashara Jones led the Dragons with 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds followed by Shadae Nollen, who had 12 points with four rebounds.
The Lady Tigers scored a quick four buckets for an 8-0 lead before forcing Lane College into its first timeout of the quarter. An 11-5 run, highlighted by back-to-back 3’s from Lawrence and Davis, stretched the TSU lead, 19-5, with 2:48 left on the clock. TSU fouls would allow the Dragons to put a few more points on the board before the end of the first but a 3-pointer shot at the buzzer from Lawrence put the Lady Tigers up by double-digits, leading 23-9 going into the second.
Tennessee State kept things going with an 11-2 run at the start of the second, leading the Dragons by 21 with six minutes still remaining in the half. The Lady Tigers continued their offensive pressure, sinking six more buckets but only outscoring Lane 12-10 before heading into the half with a 44-21 lead.
Tiana Parker came in off the bench to score the first two shots of the third to give the Lady Tigers a 48-21 lead. The Dragons battled back with a couple of buckets of their own, but shots from the line and two 3’s from Davis and Diamond Beatty would put the Lady Tigers up 63-28 going into the fourth.
Turnovers in the fourth allowed the Dragons to outscore the Lady Tigers 7-5 before calling their last timeout of the game. With 4:04 left in the game, TSU used a 7-5 run, highlighted by a shot from beyond the arc from Asia Sims, to push past Lane with a 75-44 final score.
The Lady Tigers will head down to Starkville, Miss. to face SEC team, Mississippi State. The match-up is set for 2:00 p.m. Sunday.
SOUTHERN MISS 69, TENNESSEE TECH 57
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Southern Miss forced 20 turnovers and converted those into a comfortable advantage early Tuesday night, then had to hold off a furious fourth quarter comeback bid by Tennessee Tech to escape with a 69-57 non-conference victory over the Golden Eagles in Eblen Center.
The visiting Lady Eagles improved to 4-2 on the year while Tech's record dipped to 2-4. The loss halted a two-game home win streak for coach Jim Davis' team.
After three quarters, USM held a 26-9 advantage in points off turnovers, and that 17-point edge helped make up a large part of a 57-36 margin following three periods.
But Tech showed some fight in the fourth quarter, going on a 17-3 run to slice the deficit from 23 points down to nine with 1:18 remaining.
Brittany Dinkins led the way for USM with 21 points and five rebounds, while Jayla King added 19 points and five rebounds, shooting 7-for-11 from the field. Caitlin Jenkins added nine points and a game-best 10 rebounds to the winning side.
Senior Samaria Howard's 13 points and five rebounds topped the Golden Eagles. Hannah Goolsby added 10 points while Yaktavia Hickson produced 10 points and a game-best five assists.
Tech shot 37.7 percent for the game (20-for-53) and 56 percent (13-for-23) from the free throw line. USM hit 44.8 percent (26-for-58) for the game including 6-for-12 from 3-point range. The visitors held a 39-33 edge on the boards.
Tech faces a pair of matinee contests in its next two games, heading out on a road trip to Ohio and North Carolina. On Thursday, the Golden Eagles face Xavier in a contest slated for 11 a.m. CT. The journey continues Saturday with a 1p.m. tilt at UNC Greensboro.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 67, ALCORN STATE 65
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State women's basketball team erased an Alcorn State double digit lead in the fourth quarter to prevail 67-65 over the Lady Braves on Tuesday at the Pete Mathews Coliseum.
After trading the lead with ASU during the first half, it took a three-point basket by junior guard Briana Benson with 34 seconds and a good defensive effort to seal Jax State two-point win. The Gamecocks snapped a three-game losing streak and moved to 2-5 on the season. ASU dropped to 1-3 on the year.
The Gamecocks trailed by as many as 12 with 6:54 remaining in the fourth quarter before a Courtney Strain jumper, a Gretchen Morrison layup and three-point basket made it a five-point game with 4:37 left. Following a Henrietta Wells layup to extend the Lady Braves' lead back to seven, Strain drained a three-point shot on back-to-back Gamecock possessions to cut the JSU deficit to one possession just over two minutes on the clock. ASU finished the game 2-of-12 from the field.
JSU extended its string of consecutive games with a three pointer to 53 games dating back to January of 2014.
Brianna Tolliver and Morrison traded baskets to set up Benson's go-ahead basket. The Jonesboro, Ga., native Benson made the back-end of two free throws the give Rick Pietri and his team a two-point cushion with four seconds left.
Despite only having seven available due to injuries, Pietri had five players in double figures in the scoring column as Morrison finished with 13 points, Strain added 12 points. Senior Destiny James produced a career-high 12 while Benson and freshman Chloe Long both had 11 points.
It's the first time five Gamecock players have scored in double figures in a game since January 21st, 2015 when Candace Morton (14), Strain (12), Benson (11), Destany McLin (10) and Tyler Phelion (10) accomplished the feat against Belmont.
Kelly Naughton had six points while Rayven Pearson added two but brought down six rebounds. Long had a team-high seven rebounds and a team-high three steals.
For ASU, Norianna L. Haynes produced a game-high 26 points on 10-of-27 shooting, 4-of-6 from behind the arc, to go along with a game-high nine rebounds in 36 minutes for the Lady Braves. She also had two steals. Tolliver was the lone other Alcorn State player in double figures as she had 11 points and six rebounds. Briana Luton had six points while Talisa Sherman added five. Henrietta Wells, Ashtin McNichols and Day Russell all had four points while Wells brought down nine rebounds. Tori Danielle Spann and Lauren Turner had three and two points respectively.
JSU overcame a sluggish third quarter to outscore the Braves 21-12 during the final quarter. The Gamecocks also outscored their opposition 21-17 during the first quarter. JSU shot a crisp 50 percent during the first half, before fighting through a 36.4 shooting percent during the second half.
Pietri and company will return to action Friday night at Georgia Southern with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m.
SIUE 65, ILLINOIS STATE 57
NORMAL, Ill - SIUE women's basketball saved its biggest offensive output for the fourth period Tuesday as it rolled over Illinois State 65-57 at Redbird Arena.
The Cougars, 3-4, won their second straight road contest with a 24-point fourth period. Gwen Adams led a second-half surge with 12 of her 15 points over the final 20 minutes.
Shronda Butts led all scorers with 20 points, including 13 in the first half. Donshel Beck missed her second double-double of the season by a single point, finishing with nine point s and a game-high 11 rebounds.
After SIUE sprinted to an 11-point lead 17-6 after one period, Illinois State came back to pull within two by the halftime break at 25-23.
SIUE committed 22 turnovers against Illinois State but used a decided advantage in rebounding 46-38 to control the contest.
The Redbirds, 1-5, took a brief lead 31-30 in the third period on a layup by Shakeela Fowler with 6:41 to play. Adams put the Cougars back up with an assist to Lauren White 27 seconds later and never trailed again.
Beck gave the Cougars a 41-37 lead with nine seconds left in the third period. SIUE opened the fourth period by extending it to an 11-2 run, opening up a double-digit lead. The Cougars would lead by as many as 14 points late in the game, but a pair of late three-pointers pulled the Redbirds to the final eight-point deficit.
Illinois State shot 31.8 percent (21-66) from the field and kept close behind seven three-pointers. Fowler led the Redbirds in scoring with 12 points. Octavia Crump added 10.
SIUE shot 42.4 percent (25-59) from the field and won the battle in the paint 44-20 over Illinois State.
SIUE now heads to Carbondale, Illinois, for a noon game Friday against SIU Carbondale. It will be seventh consecutive road contest for the Cougars.