2016 OVC Women's Basketball Championship - Semifinals

3/4/2016 7:04:55 AM

#4 EASTERN KENTUCKY,63, #8 MURRAY STATE 52
NASHVILLE - The Colonels never trailed in the contest, as Shameekia Murray’s game-high 24 points propelled the Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team to a 63-52 win over Murray State University on Friday afternoon in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinals at Municipal Auditorium.

Head Coach Chrissy Roberts earned her 100th career win on Friday becoming the program’s second all-time winningest coach. Roberts is currently third among active coaches in the OVC and 23rd all-time in the league.

With Friday’s win EKU will play Belmont University (23-8) on Saturday in the OVC Tournament Championship game at 1 p.m. ET.

Belmont and EKU have never met in an OVC Tournament contest. The Bruins won the two regular season meetings over the Colonels.

EKU (18-11) last faced Southeast Missouri State in the 2005 championship game—which the Colonels won 84-73 in double overtime at the Gaylord Entertainment Center. EKU has reached the OVC Tournament championship game four times, winning the league tournament title in 1997 and 2005.

The Colonels led the duration of the contest, after jumping out to an 11-2 lead in the opening minutes. EKU hit on five of its first seven attempts from the field, as Murray netted seven straight points. However, the EKU offense stalled after Murray was whistled for her second foul with 5:34 left to play in the opening period.

Murray State (13-16) pulled within three at the end of the first and kept the EKU lead to single digits, as the Colonels led 26-21 at the break.

Murray exploded for 15 second half points, leading the Colonels to the win.

EKU opened the third with five unanswered to extend its lead to 11 before a 6-0 run from the Racers quickly undone the Colonels’ lead.

Junior Alexus Cooper connected from deep, before Murray tallied seven straight points for the Colonels—yet again—pushing their lead back to 11 and all but sealing Roberts’ 100th win.

The EKU defense stymied the Murray State comeback attempts, building its largest lead of the contest with 2:51 remaining.

EKU pulled down 44 rebounds in the win, tying the program record for fifth most rebounds in a game. The Colonels’ grabbed 34 defensive rebounds on Saturday, marking the second best tournament performance for EKU.

The Colonels held Murray State to its second lowest scoring affair of the season.

Bianca Babic led three Racers in double-digits with 13. Ke’Shunan James and Jasmine Borders had a combination of 21.

Cooper and Jalen O’Bannon also scored in double figures for the Colonels, as Cooper finished with 10 and O’Bannon added 13.

Saturday’s championship game will be streamed live on ESPN 3.

ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually. It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

#2 BELMONT 92, #3 SIUE 68
NASHVILLE - Belmont University women's basketball outshot and outrebounded their way to a 92-68 semifinal victory over SIUE. The Bruins recorded 44 rebounds, to the Cougars 23 and shot 52.5 percent from the field and 57.9 percent from three. Belmont also went 19-for-21 from the free throw line.

Freshman Darby Maggard (Larwill, Ind.) led the Bruins with a double-double of 18 points and ten assists. Four others Bruins recorded double-digit points, sophomore Sally McCabe (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) finished with 18, redshirt sophomore Kylee Smith (Alpharetta, Ga.) with 14, freshman Ellie Harmeyer (Kenosha, Wisc.) posted 11 and finally junior Lauren Thompson (Franklin, Tenn.) rounded it out with 10.

Thompson, Smith and junior Frankie Joubran (Detroit, Mich.) each posted seven rebounds.

As anticipated in a semifinal game the Bruins and the Cougars started the game going point for point.

The Bruins posted 20 points in the first quarter in huge part due to fantastic rebounding, Belmont outrebounded SIUE 12-5, eight defensive and four offensive.

McCabe led the charge scoring the first nine points for the Bruins.

The Cougars opened play with a three but the Bruins went on a 7-to-2 run and took a 7-5 lead. The two teams traded baskets and tied the game at 9. Back-to-back baskets from Maggard and Smith put the Bruins up by four. Following a cougar layup Belmont went on a 7-to-2 run, closing out the first quarter up by seven.

Harmeyer came out on fire hitting three straight 3's in the opening two minutes of the second quarter to boost the Bruin lead to 12, 29-17. With this Harmeyer has already set a career-high three-point field goals made.

After trading points sophomore Sierra Jones (Huntsville, Ala.) hit a huge three to put Belmont up by 16.

SIUE took the next five but a three from Smith, Belmont's sixth of the game, ended the Cougars run.

The Cougars fought back and cut the lead to eight, but back-to-back threes from Maggard ended the second quarter with the Bruins up by 14.

At the half the Bruins were 8-for-10 from three firing at 80 percent, and 17-for-30 overall from the field (56.7%). Halfway through the contest Belmont was outrebounding SIUE 21-12.

SIUE took the first two points of the third quarter, but a three from Smith put Belmont back up by 15. Both teams traded baskets but a six-point run; with points from McCabe, Thompson and Smith, boosted the Bruin lead to 19. SIUE roped together five straight to cut the lead to 14, Joubran added a layup in the quarter and Maggard her third three.

Cougars ended the quarter with one final three and cut the lead to 13 as the two teams went into the final quarter.

Maggard opened the fourth quarter with another three. SIUE went on a 6-to-2 run, but Thompson and McCabe responded with back-to-back jumpers. The rest of the game was packed full of free throws from the Bruins; 14 to be exact, five players contributed freshman Jenny Roy (Brentwood, Tenn.) (4), McCabe (4), Maggard, (2), Joubran (2), and Jones (2).

Belmont returns to the championship game for the second time in Newbauer's three years as the helm of the Bruins. Belmont will face No. 4 seeded Eastern Kentucky for the third time this season at noon on Saturday, March 5.

Donshel Beck led the Cougars with 20 points and nine rebounds.