WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 70, @Tennessee State 66
@UT Martin 75, Austin Peay 51
@Southeast Missouri 96, Murray State 59
@Belmont 99, Morehead State 71
EASTERN KENTUCKY 70, TENNESSEE STATE 66
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team outscored the home standing Lady Tigers of Tennessee State University, 25-9, in the final 10 minutes to hand TSU its first loss of the season at the Gentry Center with a 70-66 win on Wednesday.
Trailing 57-45 at the end of three, EKU opened the final stanza on a 9-2 run to narrow the TSU lead to four.
Junior Jalen O’Bannon ignited the run with a strong finish at the rim, drawing the TSU foul. O’Bannon converted the old-fashioned three-point play, as the Colonels cut the deficit to nine just 36 seconds into the fourth period.
On the following EKU possession, redshirt junior Alexus Cooper picked the pocket of TSU’s Jordan Brightwell and found freshman Jada Triplett behind the arc for the bucket as the Colonels gained momentum with 8:14 left to play.
After a basket from junior Zee Willix cut the TSU lead to 58-54, the Lady Tigers used a 6-2 run to extend their lead back to eight with 6:06 left to play.
However, the Colonels dominated the closing minutes, holding the Tigers an insignificant four points in the final 6:06 as TSU connected on just one of its final eight field goal attempts. Meanwhile, the Colonels hit five of their last seven field goals.
Down by three, EKU evened the gap at 64 with 2:43 remaining as senior Shameekia Murray put back an offensive miss for the score and drew the foul for yet another three-point play for the Colonels.
Jayda Johnson connected on jumper to give TSU a 66-64 lead with 2:24 left in regulation, but EKU responded again.
Junior Michaela Hunter took it the length of the floor for the score and the foul. Hunter’s three-point play gave the Colonels a 67-66 advantage and their first lead since the 8:24 mark in the opening period.
The Colonel defense came up with another timely stop, as O’Bannon stepped to the free throw line. O’Bannon hit one of two, extending the EKU lead to 68-66 with 1:09 on the clock.
Following a TSU timeout, the Lady Tigers missed on four shots before Willix pulled down the defensive rebound. Willix and O’Bannon netted two free throws in the final 10 seconds to move the Colonels to 6-4 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
The Colonels led for only 2:18, but it was all they needed.
O’Bannon finished with a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds, logging her 11th double-double of the season. Senior Shameekia Murray added 14 points and three steals, as freshman Abby Wright shot 4-for-6 from deep, finishing with 12 points in the win.
Johnson paced the Lady Tigers with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
UT MARTIN 75, AUSTIN PEAY 51
MARTIN, Tenn. - A big first quarter run proved to be the difference for the University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team once again as the Skyhawks tied a season-high with 17 three-pointers in a 75-51 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Austin Peay on Wednesday night.
The Skyhawks (15-7, 8-1 OVC) picked up the team’s eighth consecutive victory behind the nation’s fourth ranked three-point shooting attack. Benefiting from the friendly confines of the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center, the Skyhawks continued a trend during the recent three-game homestretch where they have averaged 15 three-pointers per game by tying the team’s previous season-best performance of 17 trifectas set against Morehead State on Jan. 9. The victory also continued a 22-game winning OVC home winning streak for the Skyhawks and while recording the team’s ninth consecutive victory over the Governors.
Keeping with the theme of trends, Haley Howard proved why she was recently named OVC Player of the Week by continuing her impressive scoring streak as she notched her fourth straight 20-point outing. The game marked her eighth game with 20 points or more this season while tying a career-high with 25 points – sinking a career-high seven three-pointers. Sharpshooter Jessy Ward also joined in the action, sinking five trifectas and finishing with 19 points.
Despite suffering a difficult first quarter, Austin Peay (7-16, 5-5 OVC) settled in to narrowly outscore the hot-shooting home squad 44-41 over the final three quarters of play. The play of stellar guard Tiasha Gray was on full display as she led the Governors with 20 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Through the game’s first five minutes, UT Martin would hold a narrow 11-7 advantage heading into the first media break. Following the brief timeout, the Skyhawks would take control the rest of the quarter, finishing the first on a 23-0 run behind 10 three-pointers. Howard would lead the way, scoring 14 points in the opening frame while Ward dialed in three trifectas and Myah Taylor tossed in a pair. After holding the Governors scoreless over the final four minutes of the first, UT Martin would take a 34-7 advantage into the second quarter.
Austin Peay would look to cut into the deficit, stringing together an 8-0 run to begin the second quarter, trimming the margin to as close at 18 midway through the second. Gray would take over for the Governors, scoring 11 points in the period alone. The Govs would outscore the Skyhawks 18-12 in the second quarter but UT Martin would still lead 46-25 heading into the halftime break.
UT Martin would slightly outscore Austin Peay in the third quarter behind 13 combined points from the duo of Ward and Howard. Howard would notch her fourth consecutive game with 20 points or more and eighth of the season. With increased margin, the Skyhawks would take a 62-36 lead into the fourth quarter.
The final quarter would play even with Austin Peay narrowly outscoring UT Martin 15-13 in the final quarter. During the period, Gray would reach the 20-point plateau while Howard scored five points to tie her previous career high set against Southeast Missouri of 25 points. With little variation in the quarterly score, UT Martin would pick up the 75-51 victory.
BELMONT 99, MOREHEAD STATE 71
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In a matchup featuring the two highest powered offenses in the OVC, the host Belmont Bruins (15-7, 7-2) certainly lived up to the billing as they knocked off visiting Morehead State, 99-71 Wednesday evening at the Curb Event Center.
Kylee Smith (Alpharetta, Ga.) put together her best all-around performance of the season as she finished with a career-high 27 points to go with 1 rebounds. Smith, who notched her second double double of the season, also dished out a career high seven assists. Five Bruins in total reached double figures. Darby Maggard (Larwill, Ind.) scored 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Lauren Thompson (Franklin, Tenn.) came through with a 14 point, 8 rebound effort on an efficient 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Sierra Jones (Huntsville, Ala.) added 13 while Frankie Joubran (Detroit, Mich.) recorded 10 points off the BU bench.
Belmont's 99 points were its most points scored since it scored 90 in a victory at Lipscomb on Dec. 2.
The Bruins have now won seven in a row and are now 10-0 at the Curb Event Center. Belmont has scored at least 80 points in all of their home OVC matchups and nine games overall.
Morehead State entered the game averaging the fourth-most rebounds per game in all of Division I with 46.83. BU outrebounded the visiting Eagles, 48-34.
At the end of the first quarter it was Belmont leading 24-20. The Bruins opened 10-of-20 from the field and were able to outpace Morehead State who elected to push the tempo from the get go.
The fast-paced action carried onto the game's second quarter. In this frame, the Bruins were able to flex their muscles a tad to extend their lead to 50-37heading in to the half. At the intermission, three Bruins had already tallied double digits; Smith was the leader of the pack. The Vanderbilt transfer put together a great end game stat line in just the first half as she scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists. Smith found a rhythm from behind the arc, as she knocked down 4-of-6 three pointers. Smith scored as many points as she played minutes in the first half. Thompson finished 5-of-7 from the field in half one for 10 points. Maggard scored 10 of her own and knocked down a pair of three pointers.
Belmont finished the half shooting 19-of-41 (46.3%) from the field. The Bruins reached the 50 point threshold in the first half for the third time this season, all of which have occurred at the Curb Event Center.
BU opened the third quarter with a 16-8 run and led by 21 at 66-45 with 3:53 remaining. Belmont's lead grew to 22. Smith continued her excellent play in third quarter as she scored 10 points in just eight minutes of action in the stanza. After a Morehead State turnover led to a Belmont run out, Smith converted a fast break lay in to score her 26th point, a new career high.
Wednesday's matchup featured the OVC's top two teams in terms of scoring offense as Morehead State entered the game averaging 82.0 points per game while Belmont compiled a 73.8 points per game average heading into the contest.
Belmont had just nine turnovers in the win. BU shot 48 percent from the field and 40% (10-of-25) from beyond the arc.
Shay Steele led Morehead State with 16 points
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 96, MURRAY STATE 59
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri women's basketball (14-9, 7-3 OVC) scored a season-high 96 points in Wednesday's 96-59 win over Murray State (7-14, 3-7 OVC).
Hannah Noe led the Redhawk offense with a 22-point performance, the first 20-point game of her career. Noe hit a career-best six 3-pointers in the contest.
Southeast used all 13 available players in Wednesday's game. The Redhawks' bench scored a season-high 38 points, led by Kaley Leyhue's career-best 15 points in 17 minutes.
Seven Ohio Valley Conference wins this season is the most since Southeast went 10-8 in 2008-09. The Redhawks' eight home wins is also the most since the 2008-09 season.
The Redhawks and Racers got off to a slow start to the game as neither team scored for two minutes and 15 seconds. Noe ignited the Redhawk offense with back-to-back 3-point buckets to put the Redhawks ahead, 6-0.
A 10-2 run by the Redhawks put Southeast up 11 points with 2:39 to play in the first quarter. The opening frame ended with the Redhawks on top, 18-9.
Southeast began the second period with 16 unanswered points to go up by 25 on the Racers, 34-9. Murray's first bucket of the period came on a 3-pointer by Abria Gulledge at the 6:44 mark.
Southeast held the Racers to nine points in each the first and second quarters. The Redhawks held a 30-point lead on Murray State at halftime, 48-18.
Noe had already recorded a new career-high by halftime with 17 first-half points. Bri Mitchell also tallied double-digit points by halftime with 11.
Mitchell ended the third quarter with the Redhawks' 11th 3-pointer at the buzzer to enter the fourth quarter ahead 72-36.
Leyhue hit her third 3-pointer with 4:09 to play to give the Redhawks their largest lead of the game of 41 points, 90-48.
Hilma Mededovic hit a jumper with 37 seconds left to bring the scoring to an end with Southeast way ahead, 96-59.
The fourth quarter featured a couple firsts for some young Redhawks. Mededovic scored eight points in seven minutes and Katia Polk hit her first career field goal as a Redhawk.
Erin Bollmann finished with 14 points in Wednesday's game while Mitchell tallied 16. Mitchell dished out a team-best eight assists.
Imani Johnson pulled down a team-best nine rebounds against the Racers.
Southeast tied a season-high 12 3-point buckets and shot a season-best 63.2% from beyond the arc. From the field, the Redhawks nearly shot a season best, shooting 52.9% (36-of-68) from the field.
Jasmine Borders led the Racers offensively in the loss with a career-high 17 points as she went 4-for-7 from 3-point territory. Ke’Shunan James added 10 points and a team-high three assists. Kyra Gulledge added eight points and six rebounds, while Lexii Cassell and Abria Gulledge chipped in with seven points each.