WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee State 68, @Morehead State 60
Belmont 65, @Eastern Kentucky 51
SIUE 89, @Southeast Missouri 75
@UT Martin 91, Eastern Illinois 52
TENNESSEE STATE 68, MOREHEAD STATE 60
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Tennessee State University women’s basketball team snapped a five-game road losing skid after defeating Morehead State, 68-60, Wednesday night in Johnson Arena.
Tennessee State (12-16, 6-8 OVC) was led in scoring by Jayda Johnson who posted a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds while Brianna Lawrence added 15 points and eight rebounds. Diamond Beatty came off the bench to score 12 points as I’mani Davis just missed a double-double with 12 boards and eight points.
Miranda Crockett paced Morehead State (9-20, 3-12 OVC) with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Natalie Greenwell (13), Shay Steele (12) and Brianna McQueen (10) also reached double-digits.
TSU got off to a good start and jumped out to a 12-2 lead before the first media timeout. Out of the break, Diamond Beatty knocked down a three-pointer to make the score, 15-2, before the Lady Tiger offense went cold.
MSU used a 6-0 spurt to chip away at the lead before Brianna Lawrence connected in the paint to end the scoring drought.
The Lady Tigers managed to build another double-digit lead in the second quarter but the Eagles used another rally to pull within six.
TSU moved ahead, 32-22, when Tyesha Hood dropped in a bank shot with just over a minute left in the first half. The Lady Tigers went into the break leading, 33-24.
In the second half, Maxine Beard dished a no-look pass over to Jayda Johnson before I’mani Davis scored following an offensive rebound to extend the TSU advantage to 43-29. The Lady Tigers were outscored 11-6, over the next few minutes as the lead shrank to 51-42 heading into the final quarter.
The start of the fourth quarter was a rocky one for TSU as the opponent scored six unanswered points to pull within three. The Lady Tigers went without a field goal for almost five minutes until Sam Palma sank a jumper nearly halfway through the frame.
TSU was holding on to a 55-50 lead at the final media timeout. Brianna Lawrence made a couple free-throws to give the visitors a seven-point cushion but the home team answered with a three-pointer on the other end to close within four.
With 36.5 seconds remaining Diamond Beatty made the first of two freebies to make the score, 59-54. On the Eagles’ next possession they turned the ball over were forced to foul. Beatty stepped up to make both from the charity stripe to extend TSU’s lead to 61-54.
Morehead State, however, would not go away and buried a triple from the top of the key on the next trip down the floor. On the ensuing possession, TSU once again sank two timely free-throws. MSU’s next three-point attempt was off the mark and Jayda Johnson came away with the rebound. Despite another made triple by the opponent, the Lady Tigers were able to keep the Eagles at bay.
BELMONT 65, EASTERN KENTUCKY 51
RICHMOND, Ky. - Belmont University women's basketball (20-8, 12-3 OVC) defeated Eastern Kentucky (15-11, 9-6 OVC) Wednesday evening 65-51.
Junior Lauren Thompson (Franklin, Tenn.) led the Bruins with 16 points, adding seven rebounds. Two other Bruins recorded double-digit points, sophomore Sierra Jones (Huntsville, Ala.) posted 10 points along with eight rebounds, and redshirt sophomore Kylee Smith (Alpharetta, Ga.) rounded out the offense and defense with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bruins and Colonels opened play with a layup each. Belmont went on a 9-to-2 run to follow, with four Bruins posting points; sophomore Sally McCabe (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) had two, Thompson (2), Smith (2) and freshman Darby Maggard (Larwill, Ind.) (3). Both teams traded baskets to close out the first quarter as the Bruins closed it out with a 10-point lead.
Eastern Kentucky opened up the second quarter on a seven-point run. Smith ended that run when she hit a huge three to put the Bruins back up by six. Both teams battled for points but another eight-points run, highlighted by another three from Smith, put Belmont back up by 10. The two teams traded baskets to close out the first half.
Colonels opened the second half on a 6-to-2 run coming within three of the Bruins, but another three from Smith kept Belmont on top.
After a jumper from Eastern Kentucky, the Bruins went on an 8-to-2 run to close out the third quarter, junior Frankie Joubran (Detroit, Mich.) posted half of the points in the run.
Belmont started the final quarter on a 6-to-2 run; Maggard, freshman Ellie Harmeyer (Kenosha, Wis.) and Thompson each scored two. Both teams battled for points, and the Colonels started to foul with a minute left to play but four free throws from Jones and one from McCabe held the Bruins lead until the end. Belmont closed out the game 65-51.
Jalen O’Bannon logged her 14th double-double of the season, finishing with 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Colonels.
SIUE 89, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 75
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - SIUE women's basketball outscored Southeast Missouri by 22 points in the second period Saturday and cruised to an 89-75 victory at the Show Me Center.
SIUE improved to 16-12 overall and 11-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference with one game yet to play in the regular season.
The Cougars pounded Southeast Missouri in the second period, outscoring the Redhawks 27-5 and taking a commanding 53-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
CoCo Moore collected five steals for the game and Lauren White added four.
Shronda Butts led all scorers with 26 points. Donshel Beck scored 13 while Gwen Adams and Moore added 11 points each.
Sydney Bauman turned in one of her best performances for the season with nine points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
Bauman credited her teammates for her performance.
Erin Bollman led four Southeast Missouri State players in double figures with 14 points. The Redhawks, 15-13 overall and 8-7 in the OVC, fell behind in the first period and shot 41.9 percent from the field (26-62).
SIUE shot 31 of 67 (46.3 percent) from the field and hit 6 of 11 shots from three-point range.
UT MARTIN 91, EASTERN ILLINOIS 52
MARTIN, Tenn. - UT Martin defeated Eastern Illinois, 91-52, to earn at least a share of its third straight OVC regular-season crown and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournamnet.
Shakita Cox opened up the scoring for EIU draining a three-pointer on the Panthers opening possession to make it 3-2. It would be the only lead EIU would have all game as the Skyhawks then went on a 13-2 run finally broken by a jumper from Johnson to make it 15-7 at the 4:17 mark.
UT Martin closed out the first period with a 21-10 lead shooting 46 percent from the field compared to 20 percent shooting from EIU.
The Skyhawks picked up right where they left off opening the second quarter on a 16-2 run snapped by a layup from Brown with 4:49 left in the half to make it 37-14. The Panthers'last nine points of the first half all came from the free-throw line as UT Martin ended the first half up 56-26.
UT Martin shot 61 percent in the first half and 9-of-17 from the three-point line.
EIU was still cold in the third quarter as they went nearly four and half minutes without a bucket. UT Martin extended their lead to as high as 45 points following a jumper from Myah Taylor at the 2:46 mark to make it 77-32.
The Panthers managed to cut into the Skyhawks lead slightly in the fourth quarter shooting 50 percent, but it was not enough as UT Martin would hang on to earn the 91-52 win.
EIU's second half effort pushed their shooting percentage up to 34 percent for the game while the Skyhawks finished with 53 percent going 11-24 from the three-point line.
Jessy Ward led the Skyhawks with a game-high 19 points while Shy Copney had 17 points. Haley Howard added 16 points and Mya Taylor chipped in 13.
Three Panthers finished the game in double digits led by Phylicia Johnson and Erica Brown both with 12 points and three rebounds.