THURSDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 76, North Carolina A&T 63
@Cincinnati 65,
Southeast Missouri 52
Jacksonville State 59, @New Orleans 54
@Illinois State 62,
SIUE 47
@Arkansas State 68,
Tennessee State 62
@Morehead State 85, Southern Illinois 81
UT MARTIN 76, NORTH CAROLINA A&T 63
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team forced 23 turnovers while shooting 46 percent from the field to push the squad to a 76-63 home victory over North Carolina A&T in the Elam Center on Thursday night.
The Skyhawks (3-3) picked up its second consecutive victory behind the nation’s 16th ranked turnover defense by forcing 23 turnovers. Along with the team’s steady defensive presence with talied 11 steals and three blocks, the Skyhawks knocked down 12 three-pointers in the contest while shooting 46 percent from the field.
Sophomore sharpshooter Kendall Spray tied a previous career high with eight made three-pointers, finishing just one of the program record en route to a season-high 30-point performance. Forcing the action throughout the contest, junior Emanye Robertson notched 14 points, four assists and three steals. Meanwhile freshman Maddie Waldrop tallied a career-high with 12 points while snagging five rebounds.
North Carolina A&T (2-5) placed three players in double figures led by a dominating post performance by Alexus Lessears with 20 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks. The duo of Kala Green and C’Coriea Foy also scored in double figures, tallying 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Aggies would jump out to an early lead in the contest, holding a five-point advantage at the first media break. Coming out of the break, the Skyhawks would catch fire with six consecutive made field goals to string together a 13-3 run. With the big momentum change building, UT Martin would take a 20-17 lead into the second quarter.
UT Martin would continue to punch the gas in the second period, not only posting a 7-0 run over the course of 47 seconds, but ultimately stringing together a 12-2 run midway through the quarter. The Skyhawks would use its defense to jump start their offense as they forced 10 turnovers and ultimately outscore the Aggies 20-6 in the quarter.
The Skyhawks would look to build upon their 17-point lead coming out of the half.
Putting on a show in the period was Spray who kept her hot shooting going by scoring 18 of the team’s 24 points in the quarter off six three-pointers. With the shots draining from distance, the Skyhawks would push their margin out to as large as 26 points with just under a minute to play in the quarter.
NC A&T would fight down the stretch despite entering the final quarter trailing by 24. The Aggies would outscore the Skyhawks by 11 points in the fourth quarter while trimming the deficit to as close as 13 points in the final minutes. While it was a valiant comeback attempt, the Skyhawks would finish the game victorious by a final score of 76-63.
UT Martin will now travel across the Volunteer state to square off against system-member Chattanooga on Saturday, Dec. 2. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. CST and can be seen on ESPN3.
CINCINNATI 65, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 52
CINCINNATI, Ohio - Southeast Missouri women's basketball fell to the Cincinnati Bearcats 65-52 in its first of four straight games on the road.
Cincinnati got off to a quick 10-0 lead in just the first three minutes of the game. Kaley Leyhue subbed in and had a quick five points getting the Redhawks offense going.
Cincinnati led 19-10 at the end of one.
Southeast started the second quarter much like the first, with the Bearcats opening the period on a 9-2 run. The Redhawks went on a 7-0 run towards the end of the quarter as they started to knock down perimeter shots and cut into the lead.
Through two quarters, SEMO trailed the Bearcats 39-24. Southeast shot 36 percent from the field while Cincinnati shot 48 percent.
The Redhawks began the third quarter strong with an and-one finish from Ashton Luttrull. The offense started to come together for Southeast. However, Cincinnati was able answer every basket, making it hard to put any dent in the lead.
Southeast shot a much better 47 percent in the quarter, but still trailed 57-37 after three.
The Redhawks were able to cut into the lead in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately just ran out of time. Southeast outscored the Bearcats 15-8 in the final period, but it was too little, too late, as they fell by 13 points.
Adrianna Murphy led the way for the Redhawks with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists. Murphy also knocked down two three pointers, her first of the season.
Tesia Thompson chipped in nine points and six rebounds. Ashton Luttrull added eight points and seven rebounds.
Southeast will next face the Western Illinois Leathernecks on Dec. 5. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
ILLINOIS STATE 62, SIUE 47
NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State shot 51.3 percent from the field and held SIUE women's basketball to a season-low 26.6 percent shooting as the Redbirds defeated the Cougars 62-47 Thursday at Redbird Arena.
Both teams are now 3-2.
Donshel Beck was SIUE's top scorer with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds while Lauren White added 10. As a team, SIUE shot 17 of 64 and was outrebounded 47-25.
Illinois State, which never trailed, started the game with an 8-2 run and controlled the game's tempo.
Viria Livington led all scorers with 17 points for the Redbirds. Hannah Green pumped in 16 points while Megan Talbot scored 12. Illinois State shot 20 of 39 from the field.
SIUE returns to the Vadalabene Center Sunday for the first of two straight home contests. The Cougars face Stetson Sunday in a 2 p.m. contest and Central Michigan Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 59, NEW ORLEANS 54
NEW ORLEANS - Despite the town's nickname, it wasn't easy for the Jacksonville State women's basketball team who earned a hard-fought victory, 59-55, on the road at New Orleans on Thursday night.
The win was the first true road victory for the Gamecocks (5-2) who beat East Carolina two games ago on a neutral court in New Jersey. It also marked the third win in four meetings against the UNO Privateers since the series started in 2013. The win also secured head coach Rick Pietri's 61 st victory at the helm of the Gamecocks, just one back of Tony Mabrey (62) for third-most all-time in school history.
The Gamecocks got off to a fast start with an 8-0 lead out of the gate. Three minutes passed before UNO got on the scoreboard, but the Privateers slowly chipped away at the deficit and soon trailed by only two, 13-11. With just under two minutes remaining in the opening quarter, McKenna Lawrence's three snapped UNO's run and set the Gamecocks up to lead by five as the quarter came to a close.
In the second, Jax State briefly stretched its lead to double digits at 27-16, but UNO quickly brought it back to a six-to-eight point game where it remained the rest of the first half. JSU took a 35-30 advantage into the locker room but missed a late opportunity after stealing UNO's inbound pass with three seconds left, but came up short on the final attempt.
JSU was held to just 10 points in the third, as the Privateers took the lead for the first time of the night at 40-39, and later led by three entering the final ten minutes of the game. UNO's Randi Brown extended the home squad lead to 50-45 early in the fourth. The Privateers' leading scoring averaging 24 points per game was limited to just 11 on Thursday. Immediately after Brown gave UNO a boost, JSU's own leading scorer, Gretchen Morrison, drained her first triple of the contest to pull the Gamecocks right back in it.
Down the stretch, Tasha Magruder had back-to-back field goals to even the score at 52 with just over five minutes remaining, before Kiana Johnson gave the Gamecocks the lead for good on a three from the left wing. JSU led by one possession trying to run the clock out when Magruder came up big on multiple occasions, first securing a critical late offensive rebound, and then streaking to the goal for a catch-and-shoot layup in the closing seconds with UNO trying to foul.
In the Gamecocks' first win of the season when scoring less than 60 points, Magruder finished with six boards, behind only Chloe Long who pulled down a team best seven rebounds.Tyler Phelion led offensively with ten points while 11 of the 12 Gamecocks that played made their way into the scoring column.
JSU now has a week off as the university begins semester finals. The Gamecocks will return to the court Dec. 9 at Miami (Ohio), before returning home to Pete Mathews Coliseum on Dec. 12 to host in-state foe, Alabama A&M.
MORHEAD STATE 85, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 81
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State defeated visiting Southern Illinois, 85-81, on Thursday. The Eagles have now won their last three games and improved to 5-3 on the season.
Tierra McGowan led Morehead State with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Miranda Crockett had 18 points while Eriel Mckee added 15. Darianne Seward scored 10 points to go with team-highs of eight assist and three steals.
The Eagles are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Lipscomb.
ARKANSAS STATE 68, TENNESSEE STATE 62
JONESBORO, Ark. - In a hard fought battle, the Tennessee State University women’s basketball team fell to Arkansas State, 68-62, Thursday night in First National Bank Arena.
Tennessee State fell to 0-4 while Arkansas State improved to 3-3 on the season.
TSU battled the entire night and shot 45.6 percent from the field but struggled from the free-throw line and three-point range.
Tia Wooten finished with 23 points and eight rebounds while Kaliya Griffin scored 11.
TSU trailed 7-3 when a bucket from Taylor Roberts sparked an 11-2 run that put the Lady Tigers on top, 14-9.
The Lady Tigers went without a bucket for the last 2:32 of the period and led, 14-13, heading into the second frame.
The game was tied when A-State used a spurt to go up 32-28 just before halftime.
TSU managed to pull even again but A-State closed out the third quarter with a 9-1 run to move ahead, 51-43.
In the fourth stanza, the home team built a double-digit lead but TSU continued to chip away at the lead.
TSU cut the deficit down to just three-points with 3:01 remaining and cut it down to four with 24 seconds left but that would be as close as the Lady Tigers would get.
TSU returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 9 versus Fisk. Game time is set for 6 p.m. in the Gentry Center.