SATURDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 74, Austin Peay 65
Murray State 64, @Southeast Missouri 59
SIUE 51, @Jacksonville State 47
@Belmont 69, Eastern Kentucky 43
@Tennessee Tech 99, Eastern Illinois 88
Morehead State 85, @Tennessee state 62
UT MARTIN 74, AUSTIN PEAY 65
MARTIN, Tenn. - Senior guard Emanye Robertson became the 15th member of the 1,000-point club for the University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball on Saturday afternoon to lift the Skyhawks to their third straight victory in a 74-65 showdown with Austin Peay.
The Skyhawks improved to 11-4 on the season while winning the team’s third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference matchup. UT Martin would take early control of the contest, holding a 20-point lead after the first quarter of play while pushing that advantage out to as large as 22 points late in the third quarter.
UT Martin was led in scoring by Robertson with 17 points while tallying five assists. With her 17 points, Robertson now sits with 1,002 career points, becoming the 15th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark.
Along with Robertson’s performance, sophomore Chelsey Perry notch the team’s first double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Zaire Hicks also scored in double figures, tallying 11 points.
Austin Peay (7-8, 2-2 OVC) fought back from the big deficit to trim the margin to as close as four points in the fourth quarter but could not take the lead. Arielle Gonzalez-Varner led all scorers with 22 points while tallying six rebounds. Meanwhile the pair of Keisha Gregory and Nieja Crawford scored 10 points each.
SIUE 51, JACKSONVILLE STATE 47
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jay'nee Alston hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds left as SIUE women's basketball collected a 51-47 Ohio Valley Conference road victory at Jacksonville State.
SIUE, 7-8 overall and 2-2 in the OVC, had to come from behind being down 10 points with 2:56 left in the third period.
Jacksonville State, 8-7 overall and 2-2 in the OVC, went cold from the floor in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, going 0 of 9 from the field. For the final quarter, the Gamecocks shot 1 of 17, including 1 of 13 from three-point range.
As a team, the Gamecocks shot 26.2 percent (17-65) from the field and 17.1 percent (6-35) from three-point range for the game.
The Cougars grinded out the victory with just Nakiah Bell scoring in double figures with 13 points. As a team, SIUE shot 40 percent (22-55) from the field.
SIUE also won the battle on the boards 51-38. That's the second time in three games the Cougars have pulled down 50 rebounds or more as a team.
Taylor Hawks led the Gamecocks with 11 points while Rayven Pearson scored nine points and brought down a team-high 12 rebounds.
BELMONT 69, EASTERN KENTUCKY 43
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - For a second straight game the Belmont women's basketball team poured it on after halftime to turn a close one into a blowout, topping Eastern Kentucky 69-43 on Saturday in Ohio Valley Conference play.
It's Belmont's second straight win, both by 26 points or more, and closes out a season-long four-game homestand. The Bruins are now 10-5 overall with a 3-1 mark in OVC games.
Despite an unattractive overall record, Eastern Kentucky (2-13, 0-4 OVC) came out with a spark to keep the game close through the first half. The favored Bruins led by just four points, 33-29, at halftime but buckled down to close the contest on a 38-14 run.
Much of that early parity was due to EKU's pluck, especially in the first quarter.
Belmont not only found its shooting stroke after the break, but the Bruins' defense clamped down in a fierce way. The Colonels shot 25 percent from the field over the final three quarters while falling off the pace.
Muensterman matched a season high with five 3-pointers on her way to 17 points. She has now scored 12 or more points in three straight games and four of the last five overall.
She was one of four Bruins in double figures scoring Saturday, the second straight game Belmont has achieved the feat.
Senior Darby Maggard (Larwill, Ind.) scored 13 points with five assists, junior Ellie Harmeyer (Kenosha, Wis.) scored 12 on the strength of her free-throw shooting and senior Jenny Roy (Brentwood, Tenn.) had 10 points, six assists and six rebounds.
Eastern Kentucky's Teri Goodlett led the team with 14 points while Catie Kaifes added 10 points and a team-best seven boards.
MURRAY STATE 64, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 59
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Murray State women's basketball team walked out of the Show-Me Center with a win Saturday for the first time since 2011, as the Racers picked up a 64-59 win over Southeast Missouri. The win moves the Racers to 6-9 on the year and 2-2 in the OVC, in addition to giving them their first road win on the season.
While the Redhawks did hold the lead on more than one occasion in the contest, it was the Racers the controlled much of the game and lead at the end of every quarter. Southeast Missouri cut the lead to just one with over a minute to play, but Macey Turley went 4-for-4 from the line in the final minute to help the Racers escape with the win.
Murray State beat the Redhawks in nearly every facet of the game including shooting from the floor, 3-point range and the free throw line, rebounding and turnovers. The feat was made all that more impressive with the fact the MSU's five starters never left the game in the second half and combined for all 64 of the Racers' points Saturday.
Turley led all scorers with 32 points in the game, to become just the fourth freshman in MSU history to score at least 30 points in a game, joining Rona Poe, Sheila Smith and Ke'Shunnan James. Turley was 9-of-14 from the floor in the game, including going a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and finished the night at 11-for-12 from the charity stripe. Evelyn Adebayo followed with her eighth double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Tesia Thompson led the Redawks with 13 points and four assists.
TENNESSEE TECH 99, EASTERN ILLINOIS 88
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois women's basketball battled down to the wire with the OVC leading Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles Saturday night. The Panthers finished shooting 49 percent from the field, while the Golden Eagles shot 60 percent. Despite a single-digit lead with a little over a minute left in the fourth quarter, TTU escaped with a 99-88 win over EIU.
EIU falls to 7-8 overall and 1-3 in the OVC. TTU improves to 12-3 overall and 4-0 in the OVC.
TTU was hot from the field in the first half shooting over 65 percent. They knocked down nine three pointers and shot over 69 percent from the arc led by Jordan Brock who was 5-of-8 from three point range before halftime.
The Panthers also found success from the field in the first half shooting over 48 percent. Carmen Tellez led the Panthers with 12 points and all of EIU's three-point field goals. Grace Lennox reached double-figures in the first half knocking down a buzzer beating jumper to end the half.
Tellez and Brock continued to battle from the arc in the third quarter. Tellez hit back-to-back threes to open the second half. Brock hit two in a row for TTU with a little over two minutes left to play in the third. Tellez responded to Brock's back-to back shots with another from the arc forcing the Golden Eagles to call time out leading EIU 70-60. Brock would finish the third quarter with one more three-pointer as EIU closed TTU's lead to seven points.
EIU got the game within five points twice in the fourth quarter. Tellez would knock down her final three-point field goal of the game with just under two minutes remaining, but TTU pulled away to win 99-88 and remain undefeated in conference play.
Tellez recorded a new career-high with 23 points finishing 7-of-10 from the arc. She also matched her career-high five rebounds and recorded a season-best four assists. Lennox finished with 16 points and a season-high seven assists and four steals. Pace extended her double-figure scoring streak to 12 straight games with 14 points off the bench. Jalisha Smith and Abby Wahl each added 10 points for EIU.
Brock set a new career-high with 33 point on 8-of-15 from the arc. Anacia Wilkinson and Akia Harris fell short of a double-doubles. Wilkinson had 18 points and nine rebounds, while Harris had nine points and nine assists. Abby Buckner was the final player in double-figures with 11 points.
MOREHEAD STATE 85, TENNESSEE STATE 62
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Morehead State improved to 11-6 overall and 2-2 in leauge action with an 85-62 road win over Tennessee State (1-15, 1-3 OVC) Saturday.
The Eagles' Aliyah Juene nearly had a triple double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. She hit a trio of three-pointers and went a perfect 8-for-8 from the line. McKenzie Calvert recorded 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Darianne Seward added 16 points while Miranda Crockett had 14. Tierrab McGowan brought down a team-best 13 rebounds to go with six points.
Tia Wooten led the Lady Tigers with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Wooten eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career in the game. Jaden Wrightsell also notched a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Terrysha Banner recorded 16 points while Jasmine Young had 12.