THURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 67, Jacksonville State 48
Tennessee Tech 60, @Eastern Kentucky 42
UT Martin 89, @Murray State 64
Southeast Missouri 79, @Austin Peay 66
@Belmont 69, SIUE 49
Eastern Illinois 73, @Tennessee State 52
MOREHEAD STATE 67, JACKSONVILLE STATE 48
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Jacksonville State women's basketball team dropped its opening game of Ohio Valley Conference play, 67-48, on the road to Morehead State at Johnson Arena on Thursday afternoon.
The Gamecocks (4-8, 0-1 OVC) trailed by just two at the half, but a backbreaking 15-0 start for MSU (5-8, 1-0 OVC) to begin the third quarter took the energy out of the building for the Red and White.
Morehead State had three player reach double digits in scoring with Jaleesa Avery leading the way with 13. Breuna Jackson had 12 points while Jazzmyn Elston added 111. Ariel Kirkwood brought down a team-high 14 boards to go with seven points and four blocks.
Junior Taylor Hawks led the Gamecock offense with a hard-earned 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting and four additional free throws. Sophomore Yamia Johnson returned for her most action since mid-November to also finish in double figure with 10 points off the bench. Eight Gamecocks in all found the basket offensively, but struggled to score consistently.
After a back-and-forth first half that saw eight lead changes, Jax State went to the locker room down just 25-23 after the opening 20 minutes of action.
The Eagles shot 61.5-percent from the field in the third period, a game best, en route to 26 points in the quarter while JSU was turned away again and again. A six and a half minute scoring drought for JSU to begin the second half was snapped by one of McKenna Lawrence's two treys of the game.
MSU grew the lead to 22 at 54-32 early in the fourth, before the Gamecock worked to cut into the margin late. An offensive putback from Chloe Long made it 20 again, and a few possessions later Johnson hit a three to bring the deficit to 16 with 6:28 remaining. A run out layup fed by Hawks to Jessie Day brought the margin down to 13 at 56-43, but it would be as close as the Red and White could get in the final minutes.
JSU won the turnover battle 12-17, but 45 Eagle rebounds, including 11 on the offensive end led to 10 second-chance points for MSU who were led by Jaleesa Avery as one of three players with 10-or-more points.
TENNESSEE TECH 60, EASTERN KENTUCKY 42
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s women’s basketball team opened Ohio Valley Conference play with a 60-42 setback against visiting Tennessee Tech University on Thursday at McBrayer Arena.
De’ayra Davis had a team-high nine points for the Colonels (6-6, 0-1 OVC). Bria Bass contributed seven points and seven rebounds. Freshman Anysa Jordan had five points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Tennessee Tech scored the first seven points of the game and grabbed an early 13-2 lead. EKU got as close as six, 13-7, on a lay-up from Davis and a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Samari Mowbray. The Golden Eagles led by 12 at the end of the first quarter and by 15 at halftime.
The Colonels made just 20 percent of their shots (7-for-35) from the field in the first half. TTU made 33 percent of its shots and turned 10 offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points.
EKU stayed within 15 early in the third quarter before the Golden Eagles put the game away.
Eastern hit on just 22 percent (12-for-54) for the night. Tennessee Tech connected on 33 percent of its attempts from the field and out-rebounded the home team 44-37.
Kesha Brady scored a game-high 17 points for TTU. Mackenzie Coleman registered 12 points and eight rebounds.
UT MARTIN 89, MURRAY STATE 64
MURRAY, Ky. - The University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball began the new year with a dominating opener to Ohio Valley Conference action, surging past Murray State 89-64 on Thursday night in the CFSB Center.
The Skyhawks (5-7, 1-0 OVC) posted their first road victory of the season behind a complete performance which saw four different players score in double figures along with several team highs. UT Martin also recorded a season-high 89 points while shooting 43.0 percent from the floor along with 10 three-pointers.
UT Martin made a season-high 10 three-pointers – including five in the first quarter alone – en route to 31 points in the opening 10 minutes. Behind unselfish play, the Skyhawks tallied 19 assists on the team's 34 field goals while defensively the squad forced 19 turnovers and tallied 11 steals. Another key was the team's rebounding advantage with a season-high 49 rebounds – including 23 offensive boards which led to 20 second-chance opportunities.
Four different Skyhawks eclipsed double figures for the first time this season as junior forward Chelsey Perry tallied her sixth career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds while filling out her stat line with three blocks, three assists and two steals. Fellow junior forward Maddie Waldrop also nearly posted a double-double of her own in a return to her hometown with 15 points and nine rebounds. Meanwhile, the post duo of Damiah Griffin (15 points, five rebounds) and Dasia Young (14 points, four rebounds) rounded out the top offensive performers for the Skyhawks.
Murray State (7-5, 0-1 OVC) struggled in much of the contest by shooting just 38.3 percent from the floor despite knocking down seven trifectas. While the main storyline saw the OVC's leading scorer Macey Turley be limited to just seven points and nine turnovers, it was forward Laci Hawthorne who carried the load for the Racers with 20 points and eight rebounds.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 79, AUSTIN PEAY 66
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Carrie Shephard scored a game-high 19 points and Southeast Missouri (9-3, 1-0) used a key run down the stretch to hold off Austin Peay (9-3, 0-1) in a 79-66 Ohio Valley Conference opening win Thursday night at the Dunn Center.
SEMO handed APSU its first home loss of the season and locked down on the defensive end to bury the Governors. This is the first time the Redhawks have defeated the Governors at home under head coach Rekha Patterson.
Arielle Gonzalez-Varner scored seven-straight points to make it a two-possession game and cut SEMO's lead to 65-61 with 5:37 remaining in the game.
The Redhawks answered with a 9-0 run and outscored APSU, 14-5, the rest of the way to grab their first win in Clarksville since 2014. SEMO scored four layups during its decisive stretch, including two by Shephard.
APSU scored 24 points in the first quarter, but SEMO held the Governors under 20 for the final three frames. The Redhawks led, 37-33, at halftime after APSU scored just nine points in the second period.
Shephard's layup gave SEMO its biggest lead at 74-61 with 2:59 left before the Redhawks polished off their ninth win of the season.
Shephard scored double figures for the fifth consecutive game and 11th time in 12 starts this year. She made 8-of-18 field goals and two 3-pointers in 32 minutes.
Tesia Thompson followed with 14 points off the bench and Taelour Pruitt added 11 as the Redhawks shot 48.4 percent (30-of-62) from the field.
SEMO also outrebounded APSU, 36-29, forced 17 turnovers, collected 13 steals and held the OVC leader in 3-point field goals made to only six for the night.
Ella Sawyer led APSU with 16 points and Gonzalez-Varner finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
BELMONT 69, SIUE 49
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Senior Ellie Harmeyer's seventh double-double of the season propelled the Belmont Bruins past the SIU Edwardsville Cougars, 69-48, Thursday night at the Curb Event Center. Harmeyer logged 22 points and 13 rebounds on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor.
Sophomore Jamilyn Kinney added a season-high 13 points, four rebounds and four assists on the evening. Overall, the Bruins (6-6, 1-0 OVC) recorded 36 points in the paint and 28 second chance points. Belmont remains unbeaten at home in the 2019-20 season and extended its winning streak to 12 games in the Curb.
The Cougars (2-10, 0-1 OVC) were led by the junior duo of Allie Troeckler and Christen King, who combined for 31 points and 10 rebounds to open conference play.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 73, TENNESSEE STATE 52
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - EIU showed up for business on the first conference game Thursday night. Karle Pace continued to have TSU's number, as she dropped 24 points, three assists and two steals in Tuesdays game. Abby Wahl was the only other Panther to score in double-digits with 11 points. Lariah Washington was everywhere on the boards, finishing up with seven rebounds and 5 points. TSU was held to a 29% field goal percentage. The Panthers record moves to 7-5, while TSU drops to the lowest in the OVC with a record of 2-9.
It was an ugly start for the Panthers, not making one shot from the field until halfway through the first quarter. Pace nailed a three to put the Panthers up 5-4 against TSU for the first made shot by the Panthers. The Tigers were trying to run everything through Taylor Roberts, who took six of the teams eight shots going into the first media timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Pace swished another three, giving her 6 points in the first quarter. The Panthers finished off the quarter on a two minute scoring drought, but held the lead going into the second quarter. Panthers led 12-10.
The second quarter saw more of the same: Pace scoring for the Panthers. Eastern struggled with the offensive rebounding against the Tigers, but didn't let it hinder them as they kept the game close. Luckily Pace didn't cool off as she nailed another three, her fourth of the game, to put her at 16 points against the Panthers. The Panthers and the Tigers both had a long scoring droughts at the end of the quarter. Panthers led at the half, 29-21.
Eastern started off the second half well, as the Panthers scored 6 points in the first four minutes of play. TSU struggled to get anything going. Kira Arthofer, Washington and Pace continued to pick pocket the Tigers and the opponent couldn't buy a basket. The Tigers made one field goal the entire third quarter. The only thing that kept TSU in the game was free throws, taking nine total and making eight. The Panthers scored 22 points in the quarter and dominated Tennessee State. Panthers led 51-31 going into the final quarter.
The Panthers continued to run away with the game in the fourth quarter, as TSU couldn't make the comeback. All of the reserves, except Grace McRae, managed to get some solid playing time as the Panthers led handily during the game. Paige Schumann scored her career high during in the fourth quarter with 7 points. Panthers won their first OVC match up 73-52.
Taylor Roberts led Tennessee State with 15 points.