THURSDAY'S SCORES
Austin Peay 84, @Morehead State 75
Murray State 76, @Eastern Kentucky 63
@UT Martin 61, Southeast Missouri 50
@Tennessee Tech 62, Jacksonville State 59
@SIUE 78, Eastern Illinois 62
AUSTIN PEAY 84, MOREHEAD STATE 75
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Austin Peay State University women's basketball team erupted from beyond the arc in the first half, winning on the road against Morehead State, 84-75, Thursday, at Ellis Johnson Arena.
The Governors (12-12, 7-6 OVC) earned a crucial win behind nine first-half three-pointers to earn sole possession of fifth place in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Maggie Knowles hit a triple on the first possession of the game for the Govs, which was a sign of things to come. The emphasis was on pushing the tempo and shooting the long ball. Six of the first nine shots for APSU were from beyond the arc and 12 of the 18 shots in the quarter were long balls. The three-point emphasis sometimes can be a dangerous game, but it was anything but that for the Govs in the first half. Brianah Ferby knocked in two triples in three possessions before Logan Carger nailed a three-pointer of her own for her first career bucket as a Gov since joining the team last month. However, the Govs were not running away with the game by any means. Morehead State was shooting the ball extremely well, but were not taking a lot of threes. McKenzie Calvert led the Eagles with 11 first-quarter points and Aliyah Jeune came off the bench and scored the final eight points of the quarter for Morehead, six of those from two three-pointers, but the Govs maintained a slim lead, 28-26.
The Govs showed no signs of slowing down at the start of the second quarter, with Keisha Gregory hitting a three-pointer to extend the Govs lead to seven, the largest at the time. The Eagles started to close little by little, with the only Govs shot to go in out of their next nine a Michaela Campbell three-pointer. Morehead tied the game up before the Govs responded with a 9-0 run, including Knowles hitting her third three of the half. A key moment in the game happened with only a few seconds left in the half, as Jeune picked up her third foul and Gregory made her free throws to extend the Govs lead to eight, 51-43, at halftime. The nine three-pointers in the half were the most in a half this season and the 51 points the most since the first half against Eastern Kentucky.
The first half was an offensive explosion, but the second half was much more tempered. Morehead State decided to start with Jeune, possessing three fouls, to start the second half as well. The threes slowed down and the Govs went on a 1-of-11 field goal stretch as the Eagles cut the lead to four on a 7-0 run. The only field goal in that stretch was a Gregory triple, which ended up being the only three-pointer the Govs made in the first half. Despite going cold from the field, the Govs remained red hot from the free-throw line, going 9-of-10 from the stripe in the third quarter alone. Using the free points, the Govs maintained their lead, leading 67-60, despite shooting 3-of-14 from the field in the quarter.
The Govs turned up the defense in the fourth quarter after the Eagles shot almost 50 percent from the field through the first three quarters. The Govs did not shoot lights out again in the quarter, but they kept up their free-throw shooting and took care of the ball. The Govs committed only seven turnovers, tied for the fewest this season, against a Morehead State team who led the OVC in turnover margin and steals per game. The Govs continued to not allow Morehead State to get close, holding the Eagles to no field goals for over five minutes at one point in the quarter. The Eagles got big stat lines from Calvert (27 points) and Jeune (24 points, 10 rebounds), but Calvert had seven turnovers by herself and Jeune was the only Morehead player to hit a three-pointer, albeit five of them. A Miranda Crockett jumper cut the lead to seven, but that was the closest the Eagles got, as Austin Peay continued their impressive free-throw shooting to close the game out. The Govs made 28 free throws overall, the most in a game since January 9, 2016, and earned a crucial win on the road over the conference's second-place team, 84-75.
MURRAY STATE 76, EASTERN KENTUCKY 63
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Murray State women’s basketball team led for nearly all of Thursday’s game at Eastern Kentucky, sans a 26-second stretch in the fourth quarter, as it picked up its third-straight win, 76-63, at the McBrayer Arena in Richmond, Kentucky.
The Racers (10-14, 6-7) were actually outshot in the game, 48.2 to 44.1, however it was their ability to shoot the three and score off the miss that helped seal the win. The Racers went 11-for-24 from beyond the arc in the game, while also scoring 18 second chance points, compared to just two by the Colonels. Murray State was also solid at the free throw line again, going 13-for-16 including a 4-for-5 performance by Evelyn Adebayo.
Adebayo led MSU on the night with 23 points and 13 rebounds for her 16th double-double of the season. Her 16 double-double ties the program record for the most in a season, joining Karen Hubert-Price, who accomplished the feat first, and Stephanie Minor, who finished with 16 double-doubles in each of her three seasons as a Racer.
Macey Turley and Janika Griffith-Wallace each had 14 in the game, with Turley adding five rebounds and six assists and Griffith-Wallace chipping in four rebounds and three assists. Cekeya Mack and Lex Mayes come off the bench for the Racers to score nine point a piece, with Mack also pulling down six boards.
Eastern Kentucky's Catie Kaifes went for 15 points, five assists and two blocks. Shay Solomon had 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Bria Bass went for 12 points and five rebounds. Paige Murphy pitched in 12 points as well.
TENNESSEE TECH 62, JACKSONVILLE STATE 59
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Jacksonville State women's basketball team rallied late on the road at Tennessee Tech on Thursday night, but a potential game-tying three-pointer wouldn't fall in the final moments as JSU fell 62-59 inside the Eblen Center.
The Gamecocks (11-13, 5-8 Ohio Valley Conference) were led by freshman Yamia Johnson's 17 points off the bench. The next highest JSU scorer was senior Rayven Pearson with eight points as the Hazel Green, Ala., native, had a string of three-straight double-doubles snapped as she fouled out late in the fourth on a questionable charge call.
TTU improved to 18-6 and 10-3 in the league with its second win of the year over JSU to sweep the season series for the first time in 2013.
JSU trailed by eight in the second quarter at 19-11, but cut the deficit down to two in the final minute of the opening half before Tech hit a last-second shot to lead 27-23 at the half.
With 6:31 left in the third, Tech owned a 34-29 that was quickly erased by five-straight points from Johnson. The Gamecocks finally found the lead for the first time at 43-41, but TTU evened things up heading into the fourth.
Still tied at 47-47 with just over six minutes remaining, Taylor Hawks and Destiney Elliott had consecutive layups to give JSU its biggest lead of the night, 51-47, at the 5:38 mark. Tech's Jordan Brock tied the game at 52-all, and then pushed the Golden Eagle ahead for good with another triple with 1:22 remaining.
Despite TTU's seven-point lead with 24 seconds to go, the Gamecocks had a game-tying shot rim out in the closing seconds, but a Johnson trey popped back out late after JSU had rallied late to pull within three.
Tennessee Tech's MacKenzie Coleman led the team with 12 points while Anacia Wilkinson had 11 points, six rebounds and four blocks.
SIUE 78, EASTERN ILLINOIS 62
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Abby Wahl scored a career-high 16 points as SIUE beat Eastern Illinois women's basketball 78-62 Thursday night at the Vadalabene Center. Wahl finished 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line recording four rebounds and one steal.
EIU falls to 10-14 overall and 4-9 in the OVC. SIUE improves to 11-13 overall and 6-7 in the OVC.
Turnovers and second chance points led the Cougars to a 38-25 lead at halftime over the Panthers. The rebounds were tied 18-18 at the break with the Cougars having two more offensive boards than the Panthers. SIUE scored 10 points on second chances, while EIU only managed five second chance points in the first half.
The Panthers struggled taking care of the ball leading to 13 first half turnovers. The Cougars were able to capitalize EIU's turnovers leading to another 14 points. Mikia Keith tallied five steals for SIUE before halftime.
EIU outscored SIUE 20-17 in the third to narrow the Cougars lead to ten points. SIUE opened the fourth quarter on 7-0 run broken up by a layup by Abby Wahl. The Panthers would go on an 8-0 run with just under two minutes left to play led by Jordyn Hughes with five straight points. EIU got SIUE's lead down to 12 points on a three-point play from pace but the Cougars pulled away for the win. Hughes would finish the game 3-of-3 from the field with two three-pointers and 8 points.
Taylor Steele added 12 points and three assists for the Panthers. Grace Lennox moved up to ninth on the all-time career steals list with 180 surpassing Toni Collins with three steals. Lennox finished with five boards and six assists.
Sydney Bauman completed a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Cougars. Micah Jones added nine points and seven rebounds before an injury in the final second in the first half.
UT MARTIN 61, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 50
MARTIN, Tenn. - Tesia Thompson established a new career-high with 16 rebounds and scored 11 points as Southeast Missouri (11-13, 6-7) fell to UT Martin (17-7, 9-4), 61-50, Thursday night at the Elam Center.
For Thompson, the double-double marked her ninth of the season and 11th of her career. Her 12 defensive rebounds matched a career-best.
UTM put together an 11-2 run in the first quarter before SEMO took a one-point edge on Carrie Shephard's 3-pointer. SEMO later held a 16-15 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.
The Skyhawks, however, outscored the Redhawks, 18-8, in the second quarter to take a 33-24 lead at halftime.
Taelour Pruitt's jumper got SEMO within three (34-31) with 5:35 remaining in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Redhawks would get.
SEMO then cut UTM's lead to 48-43 on Tionne Colyer's conventional 3-point play with 5:36 to go.
UTM built its largest lead to 12 with 2:15 on the.clock before closing out its victory.
The Redhawks tied a season-best 45 rebounds with 19 on the offensive end.
Thompson scored five of her points at the free throw line and made three field goals. She also had two blocks, five assists and six steals.
Shephard led the Redhawks with 12 points in the scoring colunn and buried all three of SEMO's 3-pointers. SEMO shot just 3-of-20 for 15 percent from 3-point range for the night.
Chelsey Perry topped UTM with a double-double 17 points and 11 boards.