MONDAY'S SCORES
@Ball State 89,
Austin Peay 57
Valparaiso 76,
@Eastern Illinois 67
@Eastern Kentucky 69, Ohio Christian 45
@Purdue 60,
UT Martin 58
@Murray State 64, Mississippi Valley State 63
Wright State 91,
@Belmont 81
BALL STATE 89, AUSTIN PEAY 57
MUNCIE, Ind. - Austin Peay State University women's basketball team could not overcome the Ball State pressure inside, falling 89-57, in a mid-morning matchup on the road.
Austin Peay (7-4) came out strong, keeping the Cardinal offense in check in the first quarter, but struggled with turnovers when Ball State (10-0) cranked up their defensive pressure. Austin Peay had 14 turnovers in the first half, but got a lift from the bench, which boasted 12 points through the first two periods.
Nieja Crawford and Arielle Gonzalez-Varner kick started the Govs offense in the second half as Crawford scored four points, with Gonzalez-Varner pulling down two offensive rebounds.
The Governors worked to close the gap in the third quarter, but injuries and foul trouble forced the Govs out of their normal rotation and deep into their bench. The Cardinals continued to pound the ball inside, but the Governors continued to fight on the boards, pulling down 32 rebounds in the game, scoring 24 points in the paint.
Ball State pulled away in the fourth quarter, but Austin Peay continued to fight, as Shelbe Piggie and Michaela Campbell heated up from three-point territory. Piggie scored seven points in the final period, with Campbell scoring two points, pulling down two rebounds and dishing out two assists to pad her stat line.
Nieja Crawford led the Govs with 11 points off the bench in her season high 19 minutes on the court. Shelbe Piggie finished with nine points and three assists, while Jemiah Harrison scored eight points and pulled down six rebounds.
The Governors will have a 10-day break before returning to Clarksville 4:30 p.m., Dec. 28 to open the conference slate against SIUE.
VALPARAISO 76, EASTERN ILLINOIS 67
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois women's basketball fell 76-67 to Valparaiso Monday afternoon. Four players scored in double-figures for the Panthers as they collected their sixth straight loss. EIU fell to 1-8 on the season. Valparaiso improved to 6-4.
Carmen Tellez was the Panthers leading scorer putting up a season-high 16 points. Tellez shot perfect from the three-point range in the third quarter scoring nine of her 16 points. She hit back-to-back from behind the arc in the first minute of the quarter to bring the Panthers within one, but the Crusaders held on to their lead. Tellez finished the game with four rebounds and three assists.
Danielle Berry posted career-highs with 13 points and four assists. EIU out rebounded the Crusaders 39-36 behind seven rebounds from Berry and Jennifer Nehls. Nehls added 12 points and had four offensive boards. Taylor Steele scored a career-high 12 points on 4-of-10 from the field. She also grabbed a career-high five boards for the Panthers.
The Panthers shot 36.2 percent from the field while Valparaiso connected on 42.1 percent of their shots. Dani Franklin had game-highs of 28 points and eight rebounds. Grace Hales and Maya Meredith also scored in double-figures for the Crusaders with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
EIU will return home Wednesday Dec. 20 for a 6 p.m. tip-off vs. North Texas.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 69, OHIO CHRISTIAN 45
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s women’s basketball team did not allow a point in the first quarter, jumped out to an 18-0 lead and rolled past visiting Ohio Christian University, 69-45, on Monday night at McBrayer Arena.
The Colonels (3-6) did not allow the Trailblazers (6-6) to score their first point of the game until the 8:22 mark of the second quarter and did not make their first field goal until 7:56 remained in the second. OCU went 0-for-16 from the field in the first quarter, including 0-for-6 from behind the arc, and had three shots blocked.
Eastern knocked down 8-of-17 in the first quarter, including 2-of-4 from deep. A’Queen Hayes scored EKU’s first four points. Abby Wright’s spinning jumper in the lane made it 6-0. An offensive rebound and put back from Madison Pierce and a three-pointer from the left wing by Bria Bass capped the 18-0 run to start the game.
Eastern Kentucky stretched the margin to 20-plus for the first time on a lay-up and free throw by Hayes that pushed the score to 34-12. The Colonels had a 20-point lead at halftime, 36-16.
EKU held the visitors to 12 percent shooting (4-for-33) in the first half. The home team shot 43 percent from the field, and made 4-of-8 from three-point range. The Colonels blocked seven shots and out-rebounded OCU by 18, 35-17.
Six straight points to end the third quarter and begin the fourth quarter allowed Eastern Kentucky to take a 30-point lead for the first time. Tae’Lour Richardson’s jumper with 9:32 left in the game made it 59-29.
Four players scored in double figures for EKU led by Wright and Shay Solomon with 15 points each. Bass finished with 13 and Hayes had 12. Hayes also had a team-best nine rebounds and four assists. Seven different Colonels finished with one block each.
Eastern shot 41 percent for the game, out-scored Ohio Christian 38-8 in the paint and turned 20 offensive rebounds into 22 second-chance points. The Trailblazers shot 21 percent from the field. Michaela Puckett led all players with 17 points for OCU.
The Colonels will return to action on Dec. 28 when they begin Ohio Valley Conference play on the road at Jacksonville State University. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET.
PURDUE 60, UT MARTIN 58
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team took Big Ten member Purdue to the brink on its homecourt in the second game of the Basketball Travelers Inc. Invitational on Monday night before ultimately falling 60-58.
The Skyhawks (4-7) battled throughout the contest, leading for nearly 10 minutes in a contest which featured eight ties and eight lead changes each. UT Martin would have a shot at a potential game-winning trifecta as time expired by senior forward Janekia Mason but the shot attempt would draw contact and fall short.
UT Martin saw three players score in double figures led by sophomore sharpshooter Kendall Spray who tallied 18 points – including six three-pointers – while tallying four steals in the contest. Mason also posted a big game once again, tallying 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds while freshman Maddie Waldrop notched 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Purdue (8-5) picked up the hard-fought victory behind four players eclipsing double-digits, paced by Ae’Rianna Harris which tallied 20 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks – including the potential game-winner. Harris was joined on the scoresheet by the guard duo of Karissa McLaughlin and Andreona Keys which tallied 11 points each while Dominique Oden chipped in 10 points of her own.
Action would be limited in the first quarter of play as both teams came out of the gates slow, combining to score just 22 points. Purdue would lead by as much as six points midway through the period but an 8-0 run by UT Martin would not only dig the Skyhawks out the hole, but ultimately give the squad their first lead of the contest. A jumper by Maddie Waldrop with 90 seconds left to play in the quarter would give the Skyhawks a 12-10 advantage heading into the second.
The game would remain tight throughout the rest of the second quarter as the score became tied seven times and featured five lead changes in the first half alone. UT Martin would use another 8-0 run which was saw back-to-back three-pointers by Spray and a jumper by Waldrop give the team a four-point advantage late in the period. Following a three-pointer by McLaughlin with 45 seconds remaining, the Skyhawks would take a 26-25 lead into halftime.
Purdue looked to take control in the opening minutes of the third quarter. After entering the second half with a one-point deficit, the Boilermakers would rattle off a 12-4 run to push their lead out to as high as eight. The Skyhawks would answer however with a 7-2 run of their own to cut the margin back down to two points midway through the third. From there both teams would watch the margin hover around two possessions before Purdue took a 50-45 advantage into the fourth.
The Skyhawks would tie the contest back up in the opening two minutes of the fourth off a three-pointer by Spray to cap a 7-2 run and knot it up at 52-52. Purdue would embark on a cold stretch by going scoreless for five minutes of play before finally snapping an 8-0 run by the Skyhawks to cut the margin to one point just before the fourth quarter media break. Purdue would answer and hold a two-point lead with 16.3 seconds to play setting up the Skyhawks final attempt of the game, but a three-point attempt by Mason would fall short at the buzzer despite contact, to give the Boilermakers a 60-58 victory.
UT Martin will close out its appearance in the Basketball Travelers Inc. Invitational against Eastern Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 20. Tipoff is scheduled for 10 a.m.
MURRAY STATE 64, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 63
MURRAY, Ky. - Sydney Floyd’s last-second turnaround jumper in the lane came up short off the front of the rim and the Murray State women survived a 64-63 battle with Mississippi Valley State Monday night at the CFSB Center as the Racers won their second consecutive game.
The fourth quarter featured four ties and three lead changes. A jumper by Jasmine Borders with 5:33 left to play broke a 54-54 tie and gave the Racers (4-6) the lead for good in the contest. MVSU (0-9) did manage to tie the game however at 63-63 with 29 seconds left to play after MSU led by four late in the period.
Ke’Shunan James was able to sink the second of two free-throw attempts with five seconds left to push MSU out front and break the tie prior to Floyd’s miss. James, along with Borders each led the Racers with 19 points in the win. James also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and along with Janika Griffith-Wallace, had a game-high five assists. It was the fourth double-double of the year for James.
Borders went 6-of-8 from the floor on the night and hit a pair of 3-pointers. Bria Bethea was the other Racer in double figures on the night as she scored 12 points, all of which came in the first half. Brianna Crane added six points and eight boards in the victory.
MSU got off to a hot start in the contest, scoring the first 11 points of the game andleading by as many as 15 points in the first quarter, 24-9, on its way to a 24-13 advantage after one quarter of play.
However, in the second quarter the Racers got sloppy with the basketball and allowed the Devilettes to go on a big run to end the second period as the Racers committed 15 first half turnovers. LaKendra Bassett rattled home a half-court buzzer-beater to end the first half for MVSU and the Devilettes led 34-33 at the break.
MVSU ended the final 7:27 of the first half on a 19-5 run. During that stretch, the Racers committed eight turnovers to get the Devilettes back into the game and eventually take the lead.
For the game, the Racers committed 21 turnovers to MVSU’s 13, however, both teams managed to score 20 points off those turnovers. The Devilettes did have a 46-36 advantage in points in the paint and a 16-10 edge in fast-break points.
MSU shot 46.3 percent from the floor on the night and went 6-of-14 from 3-point range. MVSU went 26-for-64 (40.6 percent) on the night and went just 2-for-12 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range.
The Racers close their non-conference schedule Wednesday as they travel to face Alabama at 7 p.m. It will be MSU’s final game before going on a break for the holidays. OVC play tips Dec. 28 at the CFSB Center against Eastern Illinois.
WRIGHT STATE 91, BELMONT 81
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont women's basketball battled to the very end, but was ultimately outpaced by Wright State Monday night inside the Curb Event Center. The Bruins fell to the Raiders, 91-81, dropping their first home game of the season and just their second in 33 contests.
Senior guard Kylee Smith (Alpharetta, Ga.) charged the Bruins, pouring in 26 points while going 6-for-6 at the line and collecting eight boards. Smith was joined by Darby Maggard (Larwill, Ind.) who compiled 19 points and six assists and Sally McCabe's (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) 14 points and three blocks.
Wright State was powered by a trio of double-digit outings from Chelsea Welch (29 points), Emily Vogelpohl (21 points) and Lexi Smith (17 points). Smith also added 10 boards to her line for a double-double, while Welch dished out six assists. The Raiders went 9-for-12 from long range while shooting 54 percent from the floor.
Both squads came out of the gates blazing hot and didn't let up for the first 20 minutes of play. The Bruins went 5-for-7 from the field in the middle of the first stanza to extend their lead to as many as eight before the Raiders fought their way back into the game. WSU came within two points, 13-11, but Maggard halted the run with the squad's first trey of the game. Wright State had an answer of its own, scoring six unanswered points to take its first advantage of the game, 17-16. However, McCabe ensured Belmont take a one-point lead into the second stanza by rejecting back-to-back shots. Maggard hit a pull up jumper to put BU ahead, 18-17, as time expired.
The second stanza mirrored the first as both teams combined for 57 points in the 10-minute frame. McCabe sunk a pair of jumpers with the second coming courtesy of junior guard Ellie Harmeyer (Kenosha, Wisc.) to keep the Bruins up. The Raiders mounted another 6-0 run before Smith converted an and-1 play that tied the game up, 31-31, with 4:46 left in the half. Rookie guard Caitlyn Yost (Lewisburg, Tenn.) drained a clutch three to once again give BU the lead with only a few minutes remaining. Belmont's impressive 5-for-6 performance from the field to close out the half was edged by a 6-for-6 mark from Wright State to put the Raiders up, 47-45, at the break.
Wright State opened the second half on a 9-1 run that would plague Belmont for the remainder of the game, despite scoring 20 points in the frame. It took the Bruins nearly five minutes to hit their first field goal of the stanza, but were sustained by a 5-for-6 performance from the charity stripe in the early goings.
Maggard sparked BU's offense with her second bucket from beyond the arc. Senior guard Sierra Jones (Huntsville, Ala.) road off the momentum, collecting a steal and hitting the fast break to make it a five-point game, 64-59, narrowly in favor of the Raiders. While the Bruins got hot, WSU had an answer for nearly everything to carry a 75-65 advantage into the final quarter.
The Bruins found a way to slow WSU down in the fourth, holding them to 16 points – their lowest total of the game. Despite quieting WSU, Belmont was only able to tally 16 points of their own to drop their first home game of the season.
Belmont heads to neighborhood rival Vanderbilt on Thursday, Dec. 21 to conclude its nonconference slate. Tipoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. inside the Commodores Memorial Gymnasium.