TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee Tech 60, UNC Asheville 53
Southern Illinois 65,
@Murray State 59
@Evansville 56,
Austin Peay 52
Miami (Ohio) 58,
@Jacksonville State 41
@Eastern Kentucky 70, Brescia 41
TENNESSEE TECH 60, UNCE ASHEVILLE 53
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech women’s basketball team outlasted UNC Asheville in Tuesday’s matinee, 60-53, in a game that played out as a tale of two different halves.
From a defensive standpoint, the first half was arguably the best of Rosamond’s tenure as TTU head coach.
The Golden Eagles had Asheville’s offense entirely out of whack. The Bulldogs were forced into nine turnovers, had only one assisted field goal, were held to just 7-of-30 from the floor for a 23.3 field goal percentage, and were kept off the scoreboard for the final 4-minutes, 22-seconds of game action. By the time the horn sounded, UNCA had just 15 points, the lowest total Tech has allowed all season in a single half.
Tech supplemented its defense by shooting a healthy 44.8-percent from the floor through the first 20 minutes, and showed excellent balance with five players scoring at least five points.
Kentoria Alexander had a team-high eight points in the first half and played much bigger than her 5-foot, 7-inch frame with seven rebounds, while Anacia Wilkinson had five points and seven rebounds. Both players had a huge role in Tech’s 24-16 rebounding advantage at the break.
The home team also scored 12 points off the nine UNCA turnovers, and recorded 11 bench points to Asheville’s one.
Six of those first-half bench points came from Kesha Brady, who went on to score a team-high 14 on 5-of-8 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. It’s the fifth time Brady has scored in double figures this season, and the third time she has led or co-led the offense.
Akia Harris also had six points at the halftime break, and became the team’s second double-digit scorer with a total of 12 for the contest.
Harris scored the first five points of the second half to swell the lead to 25 less than a minute in, but that was when Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick’s Asheville team would make its move.
The Bulldogs used a 15-0 run over the next five and a half minutes to bring the deficit back to 10 points with well over a quarter remaining.
Tech only connected on two of its field goal attempts in the third quarter, but weathered the Asheville storm thanks to a 9-for-10 effort from the free throw line.
A terrific free-throw shooting team all season, TTU would go 21-of-25 from the charity stripe for the game, which made a significant difference when compared to UNCA’s 5-for-10 mark.
Aiding Asheville’s comeback bid were Tech’s 22 turnovers in the contest.
A 13-point lead at the end of the third quarter would be enough to clinch the Tech victory over the final 10 minutes. Things got interesting when Asheville closed to within seven with just over four minutes to play, but a solid defensive effort and more clutch free-throw shooting salted it away for the Purple and Gold.
Alexander finished with eight points and eight rebounds, while Lacy Cantrell scored eight and grabbed four rebounds. Wilkinson tallied seven points and hauled down nine boards, Jordan Brock had five points, Abby Buckner had four points and eight caroms, and Taylor Lamb had two points.
Up next, Tech will make its first trip to Nashville this season when it takes on Lipscomb on Friday, Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. in the final game before the holiday break. After that, the schedule resumes Dec. 29 for TTU’s last nonconference game against Tennessee Wesleyan.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 70, BRESCIA 41
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s women’s basketball team used a big first half to roll to a 70-41 win against Brescia University on Tuesday night in Richmond.
EKU scored the first 14 points and started the game on a 24-2 run after Bria Bass knocked down a jumper with 2:06 left in the first quarter. Eastern never looked back.
The Colonels were led by senior Abby Wright, who posted her second double-double of the year with a game-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. Shay Solomon had 15 points and seven rebounds. Catie Kaifes chipped in a career-best 15 points and six rebounds. Bria Bass had six points, five rebounds and a career-high seven assists on the night.
The Bearcats cut into the EKU lead by opening the third quarter on a 7-2 run. The Colonel advantage was cut to 45-22 after a free throw by Cassidy Moss.
Brescia was led by Loreal Cheaney, who had a team-high seven points. BU had 11 players score on the night.
The Bearcats made one more run, starting the fourth quarter on a 9-3 spurt after a lay in by Catherine Dunn that cut the Eastern Kentucky lead to 56-35. Brescia never got any closer.
Eastern shot 43 percent from the field (29-for-68) on the night and 37 percent from the three-point line. Brescia shot 23 percent from the field in the contest (13-for-57).
The Colonels outrebounded the Bearcats 47-39 on the night.
Eastern Kentucky returns to the court in the New Year, when the Colonels open up conference play on the road at Austin Peay State University. Tip is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.
MIAMI 58, JACKSONVILLE STATE 41
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Miami University scored the opening 22 points of the game and the Jacksonville State women's basketball team suffered its first loss since November 24, falling 58-41, Tuesday evening inside Pete Mathews Coliseum.
While the Gamecocks (6-4) stumbled on just 1-of-15 shooting in the opening period, which was capped by Taylor Hawks' late basket, the RedHawks (8-2) from Oxford, Ohio, shot nearly 60-percent to build the early advantage. JSU did score the first seven points of the second quarter to quickly fight back to within 13, but Miami eventually evened the momentum to lead 30-14 at halftime.
Senior Rayven Pearson notched her fifth double-double of the year with a season-high 12 rebounds while matching a career best with 17 points. She was an efficient 8-for-12 shooting, but the rest of the Gamecocks unfortunately combined to go just 11-for 46. Redshirt-senior Destiney Elliott finished with nine points, followed by Hawks with seven.
After allowing 22 points in the opening 10 minutes, JSU held Miami to just 21 over the next two quarters to be within 14 going into the final period. Lauren Dickerson and Kendall McCoy made the first buckets for the RedHawks in the fourth to continue their leading efforts that featured 24 and 15 points scored for Miami. JSU fought back to threaten to make it a single-digit deficit with just under four minutes remaining, but the RedHawks once again shut the door on their way to their second-straight win over the Gamecocks.
The 41 points scored was the lowest of the season for JSU by 10 points since its last loss to Washington State (64-51) on November 24. The setback was just the fifth inside The Pete for JSU in its last 19 true home games.
The Gamecocks will break for the Christmas holiday before returning to host Troy on December 29.
EVANSVILLE 56, AUSTIN PEAY 52
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Austin Peay State University women's basketball team could not overcome their road woes so far this season, falling in a close one to Evansville, 56-52, Tuesday, at Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
The Governors (5-6) were led by Myah LeFlore's career-high 15 points, but could not overcome a subpar shooting night.
The Govs had to utilize a different gameplan as leading scorer and rebounder Arielle Gonzalez-Varner did not play due to injury and the Govs' other main inside player Kelen Kenol was limited with an injury of her own. As a result, the Govs came out firing, with their first three shots being three-pointers. The Purple Aces (2-8) eventually limited the number of open looks from behind the arc as the half wore on and got all of their production from basically two players. Brooke Bishop scored the Purple Aces' first seven points before Marley Miller hit back-to-back threes as the Govs trailed, 15-14, after the first quarter.
Evansville used a 10-2 run at the start of the second quarter to lead by as many as eight points before buckets from Nieja Crawford and LeFlore broke the run. However, the Govs only shot 28 percent from the field in the first half, compared to 50 percent from the Purple Aces. The Govs were doing a good job in denying Kerri Gasper, Evansville's leading scorer and rebounder, easy shots, but Miller and Bishop combined for 20 of Evansville's 32 first-half points. The Govs could only force two turnovers in the first half, while only committing three turnovers themselves, but they were costly as Evansville scored off all three turnovers. The Govs went into the break down eight, 32-24.
The game teetered on the brink of getting out of range for a Govs comeback as Evansville scored a quick four points to go up 12 before Brandi Ferby and Keisha Gregory each hit three-pointers to cut the lead back to six. LeFlore then stepped up even more, as she scored six of the next eight points for the Govs. The Govs made eight of their first 10 shots to start the third period, even taking a 42-40 lead off a one-handed shot by Crawford in the paint. The 18-4 run was sparked by LeFlore's nine points in the quarter, but the Govs went into the fourth still trailing by two.
The fourth quarter started very promising for the Govs, as Crawford ripped the ball away from an Evansville player and laid it back up for two to tie the game and then Brandi Ferby hit a three to put the Govs up 52-49 with just under seven minutes to go. Unfortunately for the Govs, they did not score the rest of the way, missing their final 13 shots. The Govs got good looks, but the ball wouldn't drop, with the ball spinning in and out several times as the Govs fell narrowly.
The Govs do not play again until Jan. 3 in the new year as they take on Eastern Kentucky at home to open Ohio Valley Conference play.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 65, MURRAY STATE 59
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State fell to visiting Southern Illinois, 65-69, on Tuesday. With the loss, the Racers fall to 4-5 on the season.
Evelyn Adebayo led the team with 17 points and eight rebounds. She was a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. Brianna Crane came off the bench to score 13 points and bring down six boards. Janika Griffith-Wallace added 11 points.
Kristen Nelson led SIU with 24 points.
Murray State will be back in action on Friday when it travels to Kentucky.