SATURDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee Tech 68, @Eastern Illinois 51
@UT Martin 83, Tennessee State 60
Jacksonville State 68, @SIUE 61
Morehead State 64, @Eastern Kentucky 61
Belmont 92, @Southeast Missouri 86
@Murray State 77, Austin Peay 72
TENNESSEE TECH 68, EASTERN ILLINOIS 51
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois women's basketball falls 68-51 to Tennessee Tech Saturday afternoon. The Panthers honored their four senior players, Grace Lennox, Jalisha Smith, Carmen Tellez, and Halle Stull prior to tip-off.
EIU finishes the 2018-19 season with a 11-18 overall record and 5-13 record in the OVC. TTU improves to 20-9 overall and 12-6 in the OVC and will travel to the OVC tournament next week.
The Panthers led by one point at the end of the first quarter after scoring 10 points off the Golden Eagles seven turnovers. Grace McRae scored all six of her points in the first quarter leading the Panthers to an 12-11 lead.
TTU held EIU scoreless in the last 2:20 of the half leading 29-22 at the break. Lacy Cantrell scored all seven of her points in the second quarter for the Golden Eagles. TTU pulled away in the third quarter to lead by doubled-digits for The remainder of the game following the 5:15 minute mark.
The Panthers finished shooting 37.5 percent from the field, while the Golden Eagles shot 56.1 percent led by Akia Harris who was a perfect 8-for-8 from the field including 6-for-6 from the arc. She finished with a game high 27 points. Kentoria Alexander added 11 points, six boards, four steals, and three assists for TTU.
Smith scored nine points and finished with a team-best six boards. Karle Pace added another nine points, four boards, and four assists. Lennox and Taylor Steele scored eight points each, while Stull scored seven.
To end her senior season, Lennox also recorded her 500th career assist on Smith's three-pointer in the third quarter. She is the third play in program history with 1,000 career points and 500 career assists.
UT MARTIN 83, TENNESSEE STATE 60
MARTIN, Tenn. - Senior guard Emanye Robertson continues to put the finishing touches to a spectacular career for the University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team by tallying a career-best 28 points on Senior Day to notch an 83-60 victory over Tennessee State on the final day of the regular season.
The Skyhawks finish the regular season with a 21-8 overall record and a 13-5 mark in Ohio Valley Conference play. UT Martin ends the league slate tied for second place and secures the No. 3 seed in next week’s OVC Basketball Championship. The win also marks the 21st of the season for the Skyhawks, which ranks tied for the sixth most wins in program history while the team notched a 14-1 record at home.
UT Martin held control of the game for much of the contest by leading for over 37 minutes. Despite a physical matchup throughout the contest, the Skyhawks shot 50.9 percent from the floor and won the battle of the boards by 12 and outscored the Lady Tigers in every quarter.
The game was highlighted by the play of Robertson who saved her best game in the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center for her last. Hailing as the team’s lone senior, Robertson stole show in front of family and friends by tallying a new career-high with 28 points while dishing out eight assists and swiping four steals.
A total of three players scored in double figures for the Skyhawks. Joining in the fun was sophomore forward Maddie Waldrop who posted a dominating double-double with 20 points and 16 rebounds while fellow sophomore Zaire Hicks tossed in 14 points of her own.
Tennessee State finishes the season 5-25 and 5-13 in OVC play. Tia Wooten led three Skyhawks in double figures with 14 points while Cebria Outlow and Taylor Roberts each scored 10 points off the bench.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 68, SIUE 61
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - In a virtual play-in game to determine one of the final spots in next week's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, the Jacksonville State women's basketball team finished strong to earn a road win at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Saturday.
The Gamecocks (15-14, 9-9 OVC) evened their league record for the season with the win, and guaranteed their second-straight trip to Evansville, Ind., site of the OVC Championships. The host SIUE Cougars fell to 8-10 in conference play and ended their season on Senior Day.
It was JSU's second all-time win inside SIUE's Vadalabene Center, and snapped a four-game losing skid in the overall series.
Destiney Elliott's pair of three-pointers in the final two minutes sparked an 8-0 run that pushed JSU ahead for good. The Oneonta, Ala., native finished with 21 points to lead the Gamecocks, followed by senior Rayven Pearson with 17. Pearson also hauled in a team-high 12 rebounds, while Chloe Long had 10. Sophomore Jayla Walker finished 4-for-4 from the field to add nine points.
The Cougars led 15-14 after first quarter as the two teams battled back-and-forth throughout the opening half of play. Trailing 23-19 in the closing minutes before halftime, Walker brought JSU within one with the first triple of the game for JSU. Jax State closed on a 6-0 run capped by a long jumper from Jessie Day to take a 28-25 lead into the halftime break.
Elliott made it an 8-0 run with a layup on the first possession of the third to make it 30-25. In a win-or-go-home situation for both squads, neither gave an inch as the two exchanged baskets throughout the third. Kiana Johnson came of the bench late in the quarter to produce two key baskets to help JSU extend the lead to 45-41 heading into the final period. Johnson finished with six points and two boards.
All even at 51-51 with under four minutes remaining, SIUE's Jay'nee Alston nailed a three-pointer that pushed the Cougars out to their largest lead of the second-half to that point, only to have Elliott respond for JSU with consecutive treys of her own. First to tie it at 56, and then to put JSU ahead with a minute and a half remaining.
With time running out, SIUE moved to fouling in an attempt to get back in the game, but JSU was 14-of -16 from the stripe on day and eventually extended the late lead to double-digits for the first time all day.
After SIUE's last lead at 56-53 win three minutes to play, the Gamecocks finished on a 15-5 rum to secure the win and postseason play.
Bauman led the way for SIUE with 13 points and 10 rebounds for another double-double performance. She also blocked three shots, giving the career blocks leader 200 for her career.
BELMONT 92, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 86
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Darby Maggard set yet another school record, Jenny Roy came within a breath of yet another triple-double, but most importantly the Belmont women's basketball team got back on track to close out the regular season with a victory Saturday.
The Bruins fended off a worthy challenge from Southeast Missouri and left the Redhawks' Show Me Center with a 92-86 win in the regular-season finale. That got Belmont back in the win column headed into the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Evansville, Ind.
Belmont (23-6, 16-2 OVC) will be the top seed in the tournament field and draws a rematch with No. 8 SEMO (13-16, 8-10 OVC) for a second meeting in just five days. The teams tip off the tourney at 1 p.m. from Evansville's Ford Center ready for another 40 minutes of exciting basketball to match Saturday's level of play.
SEMO brought tremendous energy on its senior night, but the Bruins had an answer for each big Southeast Missouri shot. Despite seeing a 17-point second-half lead shrink to just two with a minute left in the game, the poised Bruins closed out the victory with steady hands and free throws.
Maggard was instrumental in fending off SEMO's late surge, scoring 19 of her 26 points in the second half. That included four third-quarter 3-pointers, which pushed her past Belmont's all-time program record for career threes. Maggard's 418 made 3-pointers overtake the 415 of Kelli Davis that dated back to Belmont's NAIA days.
Also crucial in the victory was another all-around gem from Roy (Brentwood, Tenn.). She came an assist shy of her second triple-double this season with 15 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. She scored 11 points with five assists in the second half alone.
On the brink of her own career milestone, Roy needs just a single point to reach 1,000.
Junior forward Ellie Harmeyer (Kenosha, Wis.) added 20 more points, including a pair of free throws that gave Belmont some breathing room, 90-86, with less than a minute to play. She was 8-of-9 at the line, and Maggard was 9-of-10 as the Bruins made 29 freebies, their most in a game this season.
Belmont, which has won at least 23 games in four straight seasons, can turn its attention to the OVC Tournament now and a third meeting with SEMO this season. The Bruins won 91-57 when the teams met in Nashville in January.
Tesia Thompson led the Redhawks with a game-high 31 points while Carrie Shephard added 22.
MOREHEAD STATE 64, EASTERN KENTUCKY 61
RICHMOND, Ky. - Senior guard Miranda Crockett scored a career-best 33 points as she led Morehead State women's basketball to its first win at Eastern Kentucky since 2011 with a 64-61 decision on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Coliseum.
Crockett made 13-of-19 shots, including 7-of-9 makes from the free throw stripe, as her team clawed back from as many as 12 points down to knock off the in-state rival Colonels in the 2018-19 season finale.
Crockett extended her streak of double-figure scoring games to 36 games.
Eastern Kentucky's Abby Wright led her team with 24 points. The Colonels end their season with a 2-27 overall record a 0-18 marker against OVC competition.
The win improves the Eagles to 22-9 overall, whick is a program tying second most wins in a season with the 2009-10 team that finished 22-11. Morehead State also improved to 12-5 overall in conference play and clinched the second seed for the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Championship Tournament.
MURRAY STATE 77, AUSTIN PEAY 72
MURRAY, Ky. - Austin Peay began Saturday night’s Heritage Bank Battle of the Border matchup with a 2-0 lead, however, it would be their last of the game as the Murray State women’s basketball led for nearly 38 minutes en route to a 77-72 win at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
The win not only clinched the Racers a spot in next week’s OVC tournament in Evansville, but it also locked them into the six-seed. All on a night when the Racers said goodbye to local product and four-year letter winner Michaela Manley.
Murray State led by as many as 19 in the game, but as the game wore on, Austin Peay drew closer. The Govs whittled the lead down to just two with 44 second to play, but a jumper by Janika Griffith-Wallace pushed the lead back out to four with 26 ticks left. Ten seconds later Keisha trimmed the lead to two again, only to have the Racers make three of four free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Evelyn Adebayo led Murray State with her 19th double-double of the season scoring a team-high 21 points and pulling down a team-best 12 rebounds. Griffith-Wallace followed with 17, while Lex Mayes came off the bench for 15.
Austin Peay was led by Brianah Ferby with 21 points.