THURSDAY'S SCORES
Murray State 64, @Jacksonville State 59
Morehead State 73, @SIUE 57
@Belmont 91, Southeast Missouri 57
@Eastern Illinois 80, Eastern Kentucky 60
UT Martin 73, @Tennessee State 61
Austin Peay 72, @Tennessee Tech 65
MURRAY STATE 64, JACKSONVILLE STATE 59
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - A career-high 25 points from Janika Griffith-Wallace and a season-high 20 points from Brianna Crane helped push the Murray State women's basketball team past Jacksonville State, 64-59, Thursday afternoon at Pete Mathews Coliseum in Jacksonville, Alabama.
The game was back-and-forth from start to finish with nine ties, nine lead changes and the largest lead by either team being just seven points. Despite the see-saw battle, the Racers were able to take a four-point lead into the locker room at the break. However, in the third the Gamecocks battled back and outscored MSU, 20-11, to take a five-point lead headed into the final 10 minutes.
In the fourth quarter, the Racers were able to limit to the Gamecocks to just three field goals and make free throws down the stretch, including going 5-for-6 in the final 30 seconds. Murray State outscored Jacksonville State, 17-7, in the final stanza and held on for the five point win. The win moves the Racers 7-13 on the year, 3-6 in league play and positions the Racers in a three-way tie for the eighth and final OVC tournament spot with nine games to play.
In addition to Griffith-Wallace and Crane, Evelyn Adebayo also played a key role by pulling down a game-high 15 boards to go along with eight points. Finishing with just eight points put an end to a streak of seven consecutive double-doubles by the junior, placing her in a tie with Stephanie Minor for the school record. Meanwhile, Lex Mayes finished the game with six points, while Macey Turley had five to round out the scoring for the Racers.
Taylor Hawks led Jacksonville State with 14 points while Jayla Walker added 10.
MOREHEAD STATE 73, SIUE 67
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Morehead State women's basketball team erased a 16-point deficit in the second half on its way to a 73-67 triumph of Ohio Valley Conference foe SIUE on Thursday afternoon at the Vadalabene Center.
The Eagles, who have now won six consecutive games, trailed for the first 30:57 against the Cougars. Two makes from the free-throw stripe by senior forward Tierra McGowan with 9:03 remaining in the game gave Morehead State a one-point lead that it managed to string out until the final buzzer sounded.
SIUE found the bottom of the net early-and-often as they built a nine-point advantage after the opening quarter and held onto it until halftime. The host team hit on 11-of-22 (.500) shots from the field, including three triples and 10 makes from the charity stripe.
Morehead State struggled offensively in the first quarter, falling behind 15-6. Senior guard Miranda Crockett scored all six points in the opening quarter. The Eagles offense managed to find some life I the second quarter but still trailed 35-26 after the opening 20 minutes.
In the third quarter, the Cougars opened with a 7-2 run to pull ahead 44-28 and force a timeout call by Morehead State with 6:49 remaining in the period. The Eagles answered of the timeout with 10-straight points over the next 3:04. The exclamation of the comeback came when junior guard Aliyah Jeune knocked down a 25-foot triple just before the horn to pull MSU within three at the end of the quarter.
The run continued into the fourth quarter as McGowan scored the first four points of the quarter to put the Eagles ahead for good.
Crockett led Morehead State with 24 points on 10-of-16 (.625) shooting. The Martinsville, Va., native jumped Robin Harmon (1978-82, 1,599) and Tasha Gales (1999-03, 1,602) to fifth on the Eagles' all-time scoring list with the performance and now has accumulated 1,616 points in her career. Crockett also extended her streak of 10-plus point games to 26 in-a-row.
Jeune, who played 35 minutes off the bench, rained in 19 points to second Crockett in scoring. McGowan chipped in 14 points and 10 rebounds to register her second double-double of the 2018-19 season. Graduate forward McKenzie Calvert added 10 points.
Senior guard Crystal Simmons-Cozar did a little bit of everything for the Eagles in her 28 minutes of action - logging five points, five assists, six steals, three rebounds, and one blocked shot.
Morehead State caused 21 SIUE turnovers and won the rebounding battle 39-37.
The Cougars scoring was paced by Allie Troeckler with 14 points.
BELMONT 91, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 57
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A hot-shooting start was just the beginning as the Belmont women's basketball team put together its best offensive outing of the season Thursday and rolled to a 91-57 Ohio Valley Conference blowout of Southeast Missouri at the Curb Event Center.
Belmont (15-5, 8-1 OVC) blew past its season high in scoring, reaching 90 points for the first time this year to pick up its seventh straight victory. It all started with a 15-2 run to open the game, and the Bruins never looked back from there.
Thursday was Belmont's first 90-point game this season, surpassing the team's previous high of 83 points against Lipscomb on Dec. 4. Belmont reached 90 points six times last season, including an NCAA-era program record of 111 at Vanderbilt.
The game also marked the first time this year that Belmont has shot better than 50 percent from the field. The Bruins hit 31-of-60 shots (52 percent), including shooting 15-of-33 from 3-point range.
Junior Maura Muensterman (Evansville, Ind.) had the greatest contribution there. She knocked down 5-of-6 triple attempts, including three in a row during a 1:20 stretch to open the third quarter that took the air out of the opposition completely.
Senior Darby Maggard (Larwill, Ind.) scored 17 points, her fourth straight game with as many. She hit two 3-pointers to move into second place in OVC history with 378 career threes, but she also missed her first free throw of the season and saw her OVC-record-streak come to an end at 48 consecutive makes.
Junior Ellie Harmeyer (Kenosha, Wis.) rounded out Belmont's big scorers with 16 points. She tied a career high with 14 rebounds.
Tesia Thompson recorded a double-dobule to lead the Redhawks with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 80, EASTERN KENTUCKY 60
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Karle Pace scores a season-best 29 points in Eastern Illinois women's basketball's 80-60 win over Eastern Kentucky Thursday night in Lantz Arena. Pace finished 10-of-15 from the field and 3-of-5 from the arc with two rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
EIU improves to 9-11 overall and 3-6 in the OVC, while EKU falls to 2-18 overall and 0-9 in the OVC.
The first quarter saw four lead changes in the first four minutes of play. Grace McRae connected on a jumper at the 6:04 minute mark to give the Panthers a permanent lead over the Colonels for the remainder of the game. Taylor Steele and Pace each had 13 points for EIU heading into halftime helping the Panthers to a 41-31 lead over the Colonels.
In the third quarter, the Panthers capitalized on the Colonels six turnovers scoring 13 points. EIU finished the game with 26 points on EKU's 19 turnovers.
The Panthers led by as much as 22 as Pace scored 13 points for EIU in the third quarter. The Colonels would get the lead down to 15 on three different possessions, but the Panthers would win their third conference match-up 80-60.
Steele finished with 15 points behind Pace's 29. Steele also tallied six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block. Jalisha Smith flirted with a double-double recording 9 points and a season-best 11 rebounds. McRae added seven points and seven rebounds from the bench.
Bria Bass led the Colonels with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Shay Solomon fell short of a double-double with 10 points and 8 rebound. She also tallied six assists.
UT MARTIN 73, TENNESSEE STATE 61
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Hot shooting for the University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team helped lift the Skyhawks to a road victory over Ohio Valley Conference foe Tennessee State on Thursday night by a final score of 73-61 in the Gentry Center.
The Skyhawks improved to 15-5 on the season and moved to 7-2 in league play despite playing uncharacteristically sloppy a times. UT Martin would commit more turnovers than it forced with 20 turnovers for just the fifth time this season. Despite the sloppy play, the visitors would win the battle of the boards, shoot over 50 percent from the field and command the paint with 42 points to take an early lead and never look back.
Senior Emanye Robertson served as the game's top scorer with 22 points – knocking down 8-of-14 shot attempts and 6-of-8 free throws to pace the Skyhawks while also tallying four assists and three steals. While Robertson paced the game's scorers, sophomore forward Maddie Waldrop proved to be a force on both sides of the ball with 18 points – knocking down 10-of- 15 free throws – while tallying nine rebounds.
Tennessee State falls to 2-19 on the season and 2-7 in league play with the setback. All-OVC performer Tia Wooten paced the Lady Tigers with 22 points and six rebounds while Terrysha Banner notched 13 points off the bench.
AUSTIN PEAY 72, TENNESSEE TECH 65
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -Austin Peay defeated Tennessee Tech, 72-65, in Cookeville on Thursday. With the win the Governors improved to 10-10 overall and 5-4 in the OVC while the Golden Eagles fell to 15-5 overall and 7-2 in league action.
Brianah Ferby led Austin Peay with a game-high 20 points, shooting 8-for-11 from the field. Keisha Gregory had 15 points, hitting a pair of three-pointers and going 7-for-9 from the line. Arielle Gonzalez-Varner added 14 points while Neija Crawrd had 10 points.
Tennessee Tech had four players reach double-digits in points with Kentoria Alexander leading the way with 14 points. Kesha Brady added 12 points while Jordan Brock had 11. Anacia Wilkinson scored 10 points and had five blocks.