SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Cincinnati 64,
Eastern Kentucky 53
@Saint Joseph's 80,
Eastern Illinois 64
@Southeast Missouri 57, Bradley 53
Jacksonville State 82, East Carolina 73
Belmont 75, Florida Gulf Coast 65
CINCINNATI 64, EASTERN KENTUCKY 53
CINCINNATI, Ohio - A three-pointer from the right wing by Bria Bass gave the Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team a second quarter lead over the University of Cincinnati, but the Bearcats answered with a 16-0 run and the Colonels lost 64-53 on Saturday at Saint Ursula Academy in Cincinnati.
Six straight points by Bass, an old-fashioned three-point play at the end of the first quarter and her three-pointer to start the second, capped a 7-0 EKU run that turned a 13-9 deficit into a 16-13 lead with 9:28 left in the first half of play.
UC (4-2) then scored 16 unanswered points and went on to out-score Eastern 21-5 in the second quarter. A jumper by Iimar’i Thomas tied the score at 16-16. Her three-pointer with 5:38 to go in the quarter stretched the margin to five, 21-16. Nikira Goings capped the run with a three-pointer that put the home team in front 29-16. Shanice Johnson’s three at the buzzer set the halftime score, 34-18. The Bearcats hit on 8-of-14 from the field (57 percent) and 4-of-6 from behind the arc in the second quarter.
EKU out-rebounded Cincinnati by seven in the first half and turned 11 offensive boards into 11 second chance points, but shot just 25 percent (7-of-28) from the field.
The Colonels (2-3) turned it around a bit in the third quarter, shooting 60 percent (9-of-15) form the floor and out-scoring UC 21-15. A 16-5 run allowed the visitors to close 17-point deficit to six. Seven straight points – a three-pointer in transition by Abby Wright, a jumper in the lane by Shay Solomon, and a steal and a lay-up by A’Queen Hayes capped the run and made it a 45-39 game. The Bearcats scored the final four points of the quarter to stretch their lead back to 10, 49-39.
Eastern Kentucky scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to get back within six, but never got any closer.
Bass made five three-pointers and finished with a career-best 22 points for EKU. Solomon earned her second double-double of the season, tying her career-high with 14 points and setting a new career-high with 12 rebounds.
Johnson had a team-best 15 points for the Bearcats.
EKU shot 40 percent for the game from the field and 32 percent from long range. Cincinnati made 47 percent of its shots, including 43 percent from behind the arc. Eastern out-rebounded UC, 35-28, but only had one offensive rebound in the second half.
The Colonels will be back in action at home on Tuesday when Ohio University visits McBrayer Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
SAINT JOSEPH'S 80, EASTERN ILLINOIS 64
PHILADELPHIA - Eastern Illinois women's basketball team fell 80-62 at Saint Joseph's in the opening game of the Hawks Thanksgiving Tournament. Jennifer Nehls scored a career high 13 points and grabbed six rebounds in the Panthers 18 point loss as EIU falls to 1-4 on the season.
Saint Joseph's came ready to play as they outscored the Panthers 46-28 in the first half. Sarah Veilleux led the Hawks with 14 points shooting a near-perfect 6-7 from the field. Grace McRae led the Panthers with nine points and two rebounds.
Saint Joseph's dominated the boards in each quarter of play. They out-rebounded the EIU 14-3 in the first quarter eight of which were offensive boards. The Hawks finished the game with 42 rebounds to EIU's 25.
The Panthers opened the second half with a 14-0 run over Saint Joseph's sparked by back-to-back three pointers made by Carmen Tellez and Danielle Berry. EIU was able to narrow the Hawks lead to just four points before SJU took a 10-0 run never looking back.
The Hawks improve to 4-0 on the season in their win over the Panthers. Chelsea Woods finished the game with a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds. Veilleux finished with 22 points while Adashia Franklyn added 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
EIU finished 37.7 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from behind the arc. McRae scored nine points and tallied two rebounds. Tellez and Berry each finished 2-of-3 from the three-point range with six and eight points, respectively.
The Panthers will return to action tomorrow at 1 p.m. to play the Delaware or Saint Peter's.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 57, BRADLEY 53
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri women's basketball avoided a late comeback by Bradley, winning 57-53, to conclude the SEMO Thanksgiving Classic.
It was a tale of two halves at the Show Me Center. Southeast came out on fire in the first quarter, shooting 47 percent from the field while limiting Bradley to just 22 percent.
Southeast led 17-10 at the end of one.
The Redhawks didn't shoot the ball quite as well in the second period, but they managed to hold Bradley to 33 percent shooting in the quarter and forced 9 turnovers.
SEMO was on top 30-18 at half.
Southeast was killed by turnovers in the second half. In the third period, they turned the ball over 9 times, while Bradley did just once. The Braves were able to climb back within five points to start the fourth quarter at 38-33.
After shooting under 40 percent the first three quarters, Bradley was 46 percent from the field in the fourth while Southeast shot just 26 percent.
The Braves, who once trailed by 17, took the lead 49-47 with 2:56 to play.
Southeast was up one, 54-53, with the ball, with under a minute to play. Mandy Madden secured a huge offensive rebound off a missed shot with under 30 seconds to play, forcing Bradley to foul.
Ashton Luttrull split a pair at the line putting SEMO up two, giving the Braves a chance to tie or take the lead. However, Madison Dellamuth was called for a travel with 25 seconds remaining, giving the ball back to the Redhawks.
Luttrull was fouled the next play and knocked down a pair of free throws to secure the win.
Tesia Thompson led the way for the Redhawks with second career double-double, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Mandy Madden collected a career high 13 rebounds in the game.
Southeast finished the Thanksgiving Classic 2-0, the only undefeated team.
The Redhawks will play next at Cincinnati on November 30. Tip-off for the game is set at 6 p.m. at the Saint Ursula Academy.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 82, EAST CAROLINA 73
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team opened the Seton Hall Thanksgiving Classic in South Orange, N.J., with an 82-73 win over East Carolina on Saturday afternoon inside SHU's Walsh Gymnasium.
The win advances JSU (4-1) to face tournament host, Seton Hall (3-1), who thumped Rider, 85-49, in its opening game on Saturday. Sunday's championship game will be at 2:30 Eastern Time at SHU's Walsh Gymnasium. Live stats will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com.
Saturday's victory was the first over a current member of the American Conference since JSU defeated Central Florida during the 1999-00 season, when the Gamecocks and Knights were both members of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Sunday's matchup against Seton Hall will mark Jax State's first meeting against a Big East foe since falling at Georgetown, 70-39, on February 25, 2010.
Senior Ki-Ki Patterson and freshman Taylor Hawks led a balanced Gamecocks scoring attack with 13 points apiece. It marked a career high for the Hawks in her first action away from Pete Mathews Coliseum. Overall, ten different Gamecocks reached the scoring column and all accounted for five or more points.
Redshirt junior Leah Strain pitched in a season best eight points, seven of which came in the third quarter when JSU needed a boost from the ECU press. Another late spark came from senior sharper-shooter, Gretchen Morrison, who was held scoreless in the first half but went 3-for-3 from three-point range in the second half to finish with nine clutch points.
ECU jumped out to a fast 6-2 lead, but the Gamecocks began to fight back fueled by a rare triple from Phelion. With the score even at 10-10, Jax State took the lead for the first time since it was 2-0 with a layup from Pearson. The Pirates pulled within one at 14-13, but JSU reeled off a 9-0 run capped by Morgan Towell's trey to make it 23-13 with just iver a minute to play in the first.
JSU would lead 27-18 at the end of the opening period, but scoring slowed down to begin the second as the Gamecocks had just one basket for the first half of the qyarter as ECU closed the deficit back to five at 29-24. With 3:15 remaining in the half, the score remained tight at 34-30, but the Gamecocks used a 10-5 stretch just before the break to extend its lead back out to 44-35 heading into the locker room.
Out of the half, ECU brought the pressure with a full-court press on most possessions in the second half. The Pirates shrunk the lead to one at 53-52 with just over three minutes left in the third when Strain buried a three to slowly swing momentum back to the Gamecocks.
In the fourth, JSU reached a double-digit advantage at 70-60 with 5:24 remaining, but ECU quickly had a fast break layup and three-pointer to cut the deficit in half. The Pirate were back to within four late when Hawks found Morrison in the corner for her third and final triple of the night to all but seal the contest with a little more than a minute remaining.
BELMONT 75, FLORIDA GULF COAST 64
LAS VEGAS - Belmont defeated Florida Gulf Coast in its final game of the Play4Kay Classic in Las Vegas. With the win, the Bruins improved to 5-2 on the season.
Kylee Smith led all players with 28 points, going 13-for-23 from the field. Darby Maggard hit four three-pointers in the game to finish with 16 points. Jenny Roy and Ellie Harmeyer each had 10 points. Roy also led the team with eight rebounds.
Belmont returns home to host Trevecca on Tuesday.