TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Toledo 53,
Belmont 48 (OT)
Murray State 61, @Evansville 59
@Southern Illinois 70,
UT Martin 59
Youngstown State 72,
@Eastern Kentucky 63
@Saint Louis 76
, Southeast Missouri 61
TOLEDO 53, BELMONT 48
TOLEDO, Ohio - Despite senior Ellie Harmeyer's fourth double-double of the season, the Belmont Bruins fell to the Toledo Rockets 53-48 in overtime at Savage Arena Tuesday morning.
Harmeyer hit a 3-pointer with under a second remaining in regulation time, but it was waved off by the officiating crew.
Harmeyer logged 18 points and 16 rebounds for the Bruins (3-5), as sophomore Conley Chinn recorded a season-high tying 12 points and five rebounds. Belmont still outrebounded the Rockets by a 42-37 margin.
Toledo was led by the guard duo of freshman Quinesha Lockett and senior Mariella Santucci, who combined for 28 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
Harmeyer struck first for the Bruins on an assist from senior Maura Muensterman to knot the game up a 2-2 three minutes into the game. After over three minutes of scoreless basketball, a pull-up jumper from sophomore Maddie Cook gave Belmont the lead at the four-minute mark. Cook's bucket sparked a 7-2 run for the Bruins, who finished out the first quarter with a 9-4 lead. The quarter came as the least points scored by an opposing team on Belmont this season.
Just nine seconds into the second quarter, Harmeyer knocked down a 3-pointer to extend the Bruin lead. The Rockets brought cut the deficit down to one point with five minutes left in the half. Freshman Kiki Britzmann and Muensterman combined for six-straight points to keep the Belmont advantage. Freshman Cam Browning capped off the Bruins' half with a layup to give the team a 23-17 lead at the half.
Chinn and Harmeyer meshed for 12 points and eight rebounds through the first 20 minutes of play. Four different Belmont players grabbed three or more boards, as they held Toledo to 32 percent shooting from the field.
It took nearly three minutes before the Bruins got on the scoreboard in the third quarter. But the flood gates soon opened. Chinn recorded a pair of buckets in back-to-back possession to give the Bruins a 32-20 lead with 5:27 left in the quarter. The Rockets responded with a 12-2 run to cut down the Belmont lead to 34-32 going into the final quarter.
Toledo took its first lead of the game at the 8:36 mark of the fourth quarter, but the Bruins fought back to knot the game back up at 38-all with five minutes left. The Rockets went up three points with just over a minute left, but a clutch 3-pointer from Britzmann tied the game at 41-41 and inevitably sent the game to overtime.
Muensterman and Harmeyer scored each of Belmont's five points to start overtime and take a 46-44 lead with 1:28 left. Junior Nakiah Black of Toledo hit consecutive shots from beyond-the-arc in the final 45 seconds to lift the Rockets over the Bruins 53-48. Overall, there were six lead changes and five ties in the Tuesday morning contest.
The Bruins return to the Music City to take on Lipscomb in the Battle of the Boulevard next Wednesday, Dec. 11. Tip-off is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Allen Arena. Belmont then hosts Middle Tennessee on Saturday, Dec. 14 at the Curb Event Center.
MURRAY STATE 61, EVANSVILLE 59
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Murray State picked up a 61-59 win at Evansville on Tuesday night. With the win the Racers improve to 5-2 on the season.
Macey Turley led Murray State with 19 points, including hitting a team-best three three-pointers. She also recorded team-highs of six assists and six steals.
Lex Mayes had 10 points. Macie Gibson nearly had a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds. Alexis Burpo recorded a team-best 10 rebounds to go with eight points.
The Racers are back in action on Saturday when they host Indiana State.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 70, UT MARTIN 59
CARBONDALE, Ill. - After fighting back to tie the game heading into the fourth quarter, the University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team could not get over the hump in the final period, dropping the 70-59 road contest at Southern Illinois on Tuesday night.
The Skyhawks (2-5) saw their road woes continue despite a valiant effort. After watching an early lead slip away, the Skyhawks dug themselves out of a double-digit deficit to tie the game heading into the fourth quarter. With the game in reach, it was the Salukis who took control of the contest in the final period by outscoring the Skyhawks by 11 which proved to be the difference in the outcome.
UT Martin struggled from the floor once again after being held to 35.2 percent shooting from the field while making just 2-of-11 three-point attempts. Despite the shooting struggles, reigning OVC Player of the Week Chelsey Perry tallied her second 20-plus scoring outing of the season with a game-high 24 points while tallying five rebounds and four blocks. Junior Maddie Waldrop returned to the starting rotation after missing back-to-back games with an injury to post the first double-double of the season for the Skyhawks with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Southern Illinois (5-2) posted its fourth win in five tries behind a balanced scoring attack which featured four players in double figures. Leading scorer Makenzie Silvey led the way with 20 points while the trio of Kristen Nelson (14), Abby Brockmeyer (11) and Nicole Martin (10) each posted double-digits in the score column.
UT Martin jumped out an early lead in the first quarter, scoring the first seven points of the contest. The run would be short-lived however, as Southern Illinois surged back to ultimately take a 16-15 lead into the second quarter. The Saluki run continued in the second period as they outscored the Skyhawks by eight to push their lead out to as much as 12 midway through the quarter before taking a 36-27 advantage into the halftime break.
The Skyhawks would fight back in the third quarter, outscoring the Salukis by nine in the period to tie the game up heading into the fourth quarter. With the game back at a blank slate, the lead would go back and forth in the final period but SIU pulled away down the stretch to secure a 70-59 victory.
UT Martin will look to get back to its winning ways when playing host to Chattanooga on Sunday, Dec. 8. Tipoff from the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center is scheduled for 2 p.m.
YOUNGSTOWN STATE 72, EASTERN KENTUCKY 63
RICHMOND, Ky. - After a strong first half, the Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team couldn’t hold off a second half rally by Youngstown State University in a 72-63 loss Tuesday at McBrayer Arena.
Teri Goodlett scored a career-high 21 points and was 5-for-8 from behind the three-point line for EKU. Eastern Kentucky dropped to 5-3, while Youngstown goes to 4-3.
The Colonels’ 4-0 run in the first quarter propelled the team to a quick 14-8 lead. A second quarter 7-1 run put Eastern up 28-13, its largest lead of the game.
I’Liyah Green’s tip-in at with 12 seconds left in the first half sent the Colonels to the locker room up 35-31 over the Penguins.
Eastern Kentucky was in front by four, 43-39, with 4:24 left in the third quarter, however Youngstown State ended the period with a 15-4 run to take a 7-point advantage, 54-47. Ny’Dajah Jackson capped the run with a jumper with seven seconds on the clock.
Anysa Jordan opened up the fourth quarter with a lay-up to get Eastern within five and drew within four, 58-54, on a jumper from Green with 7:21 to go in the game. Two three-pointers by the Penguin extend the lead to 64-54 and EKU never got any closer.
Goodlett’s also grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists. Bria Bass contributed 11 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Green had a game-high of three blocks.
Jackson had 19 points for the Penguins. Taylor Petit had a game-high of nine rebounds to go along with 15 points.
Eastern shot 40 percent from the field. Youngstown shot 56 percent in the second half and finished 11-for-20 (55 percent) from three-point range for the game.
The Colonels close out the 2019 calendar year with three straight road games beginning at Xavier on Sunday. Tip-off in Cincinnati is scheduled for 2 p.m.
SAINT LOUIS 76, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 61
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Carrie Shephard scored a game-high 23 points and drained five 3-pointers as Southeast Missouri (4-2) fell to Saint Louis (6-2), 76-61, Tuesday night at Chaifetz Arena.
SEMO took the court to face SLU after a lengthy 11-day layoff.
SEMO was down by four points when SLU began the second quarter with a 12-0 run to take a 35-19 advantage. The Redhawks missed three field goals and turned the ball over once during a scoreless drought consuming 2:38.
The Billikens later led, 45-33, at the half.
SEMO worked to cut SLU's lead to eight several times in the third quarter, but that was as close as it would get.
The Billikens then blew the game open with 10-1 run in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter.
SLU led by as many as 20 points late in the fourth quarter before polishing off its sixth win of the season.
Shephard shot 8-of-17 from the field, 5-of-8 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 at the free throw line en route to her third game with 23 or more points this year. She has scored double figures in all six of her starts.
Taelour Pruitt and Jessie Harshberger followed with 14 points apiece, while Denisha Gardener led the Redhawks with seven rebounds.
Ciaja Harbison scored 19 points to lead four Billiken starters in double figures. Rachel Kent added 17 points, Kendra Wilken had 16 and Brooke Flowers finished with a double-double 13 points and 14 rebounds.
SLU shot 50 percent (25-of-50) from the field and 56.3 percent (9-of-16) from behind the arc for the night.
SEMO was again without Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference selection Tesia Thompson. She missed her third game due to a concussion.
The Redhawks return home to host regional-rival Southern Illinois Saturday.