THURSDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 87, @Eastern Kentucky 52
@Morehead State 71, Tennessee State 55
@Murray State 60, Eastern Illinois 51
@Southeast Missouri 62, Tennessee Tech 53
@UT Martin 77, Jacksonville State 72
@Austin Peay 77, SIUE 65
BELMONT 87, EASTERN KENTUCKY 52
RICHMOND, Ky. - For a third game in a row, the Belmont women's basketball team connected on more than half of its shots, and for the third game in a row the Bruins picked up a crucial Ohio Valley Conference victory.
The Bruins shot their way to an 87-52 win over Eastern Kentucky at McBrayer Arena on Thursday, the latest offensive explosion from a team that's beginning to hit its stride. Belmont fired at a 50.7-percent (34-of-67) clip from the field in moving to 10-1 in OVC play (17-5 overall).
That outstanding shooting follows games of 51.7 percent and 54.7 percent, respectively. Every 50-percent shooting performance for Belmont this season has come in the past three games.
Belmont started each half Thursday with a flourish, jumping out to a 14-2 lead in the game's opening moments and starting the third quarter on an equally impressive 13-2 run. That second stretch, which put the Bruins ahead 55-26, clinched what was already feeling imminent: Belmont's 10th win of its OVC slate.
Belmont, which is averaging 89.5 points in its last four games, also posted one of its most dominant rebounding performances of the season. The Bruins' 49 boards are its second most of the year – they've reached 50 twice – but BU also held Eastern Kentucky (2-20, 0-11 OVC) to just 28 rebounds.
Senior Jenny Roy (Brentwood, Tenn.) led the way individually in that category with 12 rebounds, and Harmeyer grabbed 10 more for her ninth double-double of the season. It's just the second time this season the Bruins have had two players in double figures rebounding (Harmeyer 14, Roy 10 vs. Austin Peay on Jan. 26), but they nearly had three. Junior Maddie Wright (Chattanooga, Tenn.) pulled down nine boards to go with her nine points.
Junior Maura Muensterman (Evansville, Ind.) was second on the court in scoring with 15 points and senior Darby Maggard (Larwill, Ind.) went for another 12 points. Roy added eight points and five assists to her stat line for the day.
Eastern Kentucky's Bria Bass and Teri Goodlett racked up 12 points apiece, while Murphy added eight points. Bass finished with a team-best seven rebounds.
MOREHEAD STATE 71, TENNESSEE STATE 51
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State women's basketball team used a 19-6 run over the final 6:51 of action on its way to winning its eighth consecutive game with a 71-55 victory over Ohio Valley Conference opponent Tennessee State on Thursday evening at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles (18-6, 9-2 OVC), who led in the game for 39:40, saw the Lady Tigers (3-20, 3-8 OVC) cut their lead to three points (52-49) with 7:12 remaining in the fourth quarter. Senior guard Miranda Crockett responded with back-to-back made jumpers to spark the pull-away victory over the final 6:51.
The Eagles made 29-of-63 (.460) shots from the field which included makes on nine of their last 12 shots. Tennessee State hit on just 20-of-66 (.303) shots.
Senior forward Tierra McGowan led the Eagles with 15 points, six rebounds, and two blocked shots. Graduate forward McKenzie Calvert added 14 points, four rebounds, five assists, two blocks, and two steals.
Crockett finished with 14 points and seven rebounds thus extending her streak of double-digit scoring games to 28. The streak began on February 15 of the 2017-18 season at Tennessee State.
The Lady Tigers were led by Tia Wooten who registered a game-best 17 points. TSU forward Cebria Outlow came off the bench and posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The win gave Morehead State a season sweep of Tennessee State during the 2018-19 campaign after defeating them 85-62 on January 12 season at the Gentry Center in Nashville. The Eagles have won five-straight games against the Lady Tigers in the overall series which MSU leads 35-27.
Morehead State now has its third consecutive season with at least 18 wins – a feat that has only been accomplished one other time in program history (1977-1980).
MURRAY STATE 71, EASTERN ILLINOIS 51
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State women’s basketball team picked up a huge, 60-51 overtime win over Eastern Illinois Thursday at the CFSB Center in Murray to keep them in the thick of the race to Evansville.
The Racers got off to a hot start in the game, jumping out an early 7-0 lead. Murray State was able to carry over that momentum to the second quarter where it pushed the advantage out to 24-12. However from that point, Eastern Illinois ended the half on a 9-0 run, that the Panthers eventually pushed out to 22 points at 34-29, with just under three to play in the third quarter.
Throughout the remaining third quarter and ensuing fourth, the game continue to go back and forth. With Murray leading 45-44 and under a minute and a half to play, Grace Lenox buried a three, which followed by a layup from Karlee Pace to give EIU and a 49-45 lead. With just over a minute to play, Macey Turley went 4-for-4 at the free throw line down to tie the game and send MSU into its first overtime over the season.
In overtime, the Racers made just one field goal but went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe, including 6-for-6 from Turley. Meanwhile on the other end of the floor, Murray State held the Panthers to no field goals and just two total points in the bonus frame to seal the nine-point win. The Racers finished the night at 17-for-23 from the free throw line, led by Turley’s 10-for-10 performance.
Turley and Janika Griffith-Wallace led the way for Murray State with 18 points each, while Evelyn Adebayo followed with 13 points. Adebayo also had a career-high 20 rebounds on the night for her 14th double-double of the season
EIU finished the game shooting 31.7 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from the arc. Lennox finished with a team-high 14 points, while Karle Pace added 11. Pace also tallied five steals and three assists. Jalisha Smith recorded six points and seven boards off the bench for the Panthers.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 62, TENNESSEE TECH 53
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri defeated visting Tennessee Tech, 62-53, on Thursday. With the win the Redhawks improve to 11-11 overall and 6-5 in the OVC while the Golden Eagles fall to 16-6 overall and 8-3 in league action.
Jocelyn Taylor came off the bench to lead the Redhawks with 13 points, going 6-for-8 from the field. Carrie Shephard added 11 points while Tesia Thompson had 10.
Tennessee Tech was led by Mackneize Colemand with 14 points while Jordan Brock and Kentoria Alexander each had nine points.
UT MARTIN 77, JACKSONVILLE STATE 72
MARTIN, Tenn. - Senior guard Emanye Robertson led all scorers with a career-high 25 points to lift the University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team to a 77-72 home victory over Jacksonville State on Thursday evening.
The Skyhawks (16-6, 8-3) improved to 11-0 in the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center this season behind a nice evening from Robertson who posted a new career-high with 25 points. The senior made the most of her evening by attacking the rim and drawing 10 fouls which in turn resulted in making 15-of-19 free throw attempts. She would wrap up her career night with five steals, four assists, two rebounds and a block.
UT Martin would lead by as much as 18 points midway through the third quarter before the physical Gamecock squad began to chip away. While Jacksonville State would win the battle of the boards by over 20, UT Martin made its presence known by forcing 29 turnovers which led to 30 transition baskets for the Skyhawks. The game would later reach a margin as narrow as three points in the final minute but UT Martin would hold on to clinch the home victory.
Along with Robertson’s impressive night, two other Skyhawks scored in double figures. Sophomore Zaire Hicks knocked down a trio of three-pointers to finish the night with 14 points while freshman Brittni Moore chipped in 11 points – including going 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
Jacksonville State drops to 10-12 on the season and 4-7 in the OVC standings with the setback. The Gamecock duo of Rayven Pearson (19 points, 11 rebounds) and Destiney Elliott (18 points, 10 rebounds) would both notch double-doubles in the contest.
AUSTIN PEAY 77, SIUE 65
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University women's basketball team gained a little bit revenge over SIUE, defeating them in wire-to-wire fashion, 77-65, Thursday night, at the Winfield Dunn Center.
The Governors (11-11, 6-5 OVC) allowed just 16 points in the first half, leading by double-digits for most of the game and thwarted off any comebacks from the Cougars (10-12, 5-6 OVC).
Offense was extremely hard to come by in the opening minutes, with the two teams combining to miss the first nine attempts from the field. However, a Keisha Gregory three-pointer sparked a Govs' explosion, hitting their next five shots, including two more threes from Gabby Gregory and Maggie Knowles. The Govs held the Cougars scoreless over the last three minutes of the period and led 15-8 after the quarter. The eight points allowed were also tied for the least allowed in the first quarter by the Govs this season.
Brianah Ferby started off the second quarter strong for the Govs, nailing a triple on the first Govs possession. In a blink of an eye, the Govs extended their lead to 15 with Gabby's second three-pointer of the game, as the Govs embarked on a 7-0 run. SIUE could not get anything going against a stifling Govs defense. The Cougars did not make a three in the first half and shot only 30 percent in the half. Nieja Crawford had herself a great quarter, slicing in the lane and finishing through contact and then dropping in a three-pointer of her own to give the Govs an 18 point lead late in the half. The Govs completed a great half when Arielle Gonzalez-Varner caught a rebound while fading away and threw the ball back over her head towards the basket in one swift motion, just beating the buzzer as APSU led 33-16 after one half of play. Gonzalez-Varner led all scorers with rebounders with eight and eight as the Govs made it a clear point to crash the glass. The Govs had 16 rebounds in the first half, which is not a huge number by any means, but outrebounded the Cougars 16-14 after grabbing just 19 rebounds the entire game in the first meeting at SIUE. The 16 points allowed in the first half was also the second least the Govs have allowed in a half this season.
The Cougars may not shoot the ball in a lights out fashion, but there was not a chance they were scoring just 16 points in a half again. Nakiah Bell hit SIUE's first three-pointer early in the third before Bell and Christen King made back-to-back triples to cut the Govs' lead to 12. The Cougars were getting more open looks to start the half and made them count, starting five-of-five from the field, three-of-three from three-point range, and three-of-three from the free-throw line. SIUE primarily used two 6-0 runs in the quarter to cut the lead to just eight, but the Govs weathered the storm and remained composed. A Gonzalez-Varner bucket gave her a double-double and then Michaela Campbell drained a corner three-ball to put the Govs back up 13. SIUE dominated the glass in the third period, but perfect ball movement led to a Brandi Ferby three-pointer with just two seconds to go, as the Govs led by 12 going into the fourth.
Ferby and Keisha both hit threes early in the fourth quarter to put the Govs up by as many as 15, with the 10 made three-pointers their most in a game since the OVC opener against Eastern Kentucky. The Cougars kept fighting, being extremely aggressive on their way to the basket, but the Govs kept getting to the line and halting the SIUE momentum. SIUE cut it to nine multiple times in the period, but the Govs took care of business after a dominant first half to win by a score of 77-65.
Micah Jones led SIUE with 17 points while Christen King added 14.