THURSDAY'S SCORES
Jacksonville State 66, @Tennessee Tech 50
Eastern Kentucky 68, @Morehead State 47
@Belmont 70, Tennessee State 58
@Austin Peay 69, Murray State 61
@Southeast Missouri 71, UT Martin 69
@Eastern Illinois 77, SIUE 71
JACKSONVILLE STATE 66, TENNESSEE TECH 50
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Jacksonville State's women's basketball team never trailed on the road at Tennessee Tech on Thursday on its way to a big 66-50 victory to snap a two-game slide.
The Gamecocks (11-13, 7-6 Ohio Valley Conference) moved another step closer to securing its spot in next month's OVC Tournament in Evansville, Ind., by knocking off the fourth-place team in the league standings. TTU (16-8, 9-4 OVC) fell for the fourth time in five games after opening conference play with an 8-0 record.
Graduate student Destiney Elliott led a trio of Gamecocks in double figures with 22 points. Juniors Taylor Hawks and Kiana Johnson, who returned to the starting lineup, finished with 17 and 14, respectively. The upperclassmen were a combined 21-of-40 (53%) from the field, while JSU shot 46-percentage overall for its best shooting game of the year against a Division I opponent.
Hawks, Elliott and Johnson deliver back-to-back-to-back layups to open the game and give a sign of what was to come the rest of the day. The Golden Eagles quickly called timeout down 6-0, but never recovered as JSU led wire-to-wire. The inside game became pivotal for Jax State who outscored TTU 36-10 in the paint.
The Gamecock defense limited TTU to just five first-quarter points for the fewest points allowed in any quarter this season. Starting the second stanza with a 15-5 edge, JSU's lead was trimmed to four after Tech opened the quarter with a pair of triples and the margin remained intact until the halftime break. JSU used a 7-0 run to lead 24-13, before TTU answered with seven straight of their own for the 24-20 intermission.
A jumper by Jessie Day got the scoring going in the third period. Elliott hit JSU's first deep ball of the game midway through the quarter to extend the lead back to double-digits at 33-23, where it would remain the rest of the way. The three-ball was one pf two for the Gamecocks on the day as the team matched the 2017-18 club for the program record with 167 single-season treys.
JSU led 45-30 entering the fourth quarter and fended off a 5-0 Tech run to start the period to bounce back with fastbreak buckets by Hawks and Johnson to make it a 60-40 lead with under five minutes to play. TTU tried to rally late but JSU converted 14 of its 16 free throws on the day to maintain control throughout.
Three Golden Eagles recorded double-digit performances in the contest, with junior Jordan Brock, the Special Olympics Player of the Game, leading the way with 13 points. Juniors Kesha Brady and Abby Buckner joined Brock in double-figures. Brady tallied 11 points in the contest, while Buckner added a season-high 11 points as well.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 68, MOREHEAD STATE 47
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s women’s basketball team built a double digit second quarter lead and then pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 68-47 victory at in-state rival Morehead State University on Thursday.
The win was the 10th of the season for EKU (10-14, 4-9 OVC) and put the Colonels within one game of seventh place in the Ohio Valley Conference. The top eight teams qualify for the postseason OVC Tournament. Last year’s Eastern Kentucky team won only two games all season and did not win a single conference contest.
Teri Goodlett finished the night with a game-best 17 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists for Eastern. Bria Bass had 15 points and seven boards. Qay Stanton contributed 11 points and seven assists. Anysa Jordan had a career-high 10 rebounds.
The Colonels built a double digit lead in the second quarter with a 13-2 run. EKU was up four, 17-13, when Goodlett got the run started with a jumper. Bass scored six of the 13, including the final four at the free throw line. Her two shots from the charity stripe with 1:57 before halftime gave Eastern a 15-point advantage, 30-15. Stanton’s jumper with 43 seconds to go in the quarter sent the visitors to the locker room up by 13, 32-19.
Morehead State (9-16, 5-8 OVC) shot just 24 percent from the field in the first half, including 1-of-14 from long range.
The Eagles closed within nine in the third quarter, 39-30, but the Colonels scored six straight to move in front by 15, 45-30, again. Freshman Emma Hacker made a three-pointer from near the top of the key and Bass put in two more free throws.
EKU took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter. A lay-up from Maleaha Bell and a three-pointer from the right wing by Goodlett to start the final frame made it a 17-point game, 54-37. A trey from Samari Mowbray extended it to 21 points, 60-39. Stanton’s lay-up gave the Colonels their largest lead of 24, 68-44, with 2:22 left in the game.
Ariel Kirkwood led Morehead State with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Eagles shot 28 percent from the floor for the game and hit on just 2-of-21 from three-point range (9.5 percent).
Eastern shot 38 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the home team by 12 (51-39).
BELMONT 70, TENNESSEE STATE 58
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Senior Ellie Harmeyer's monster double-double of 28 points and 18 rebounds fueled the Belmont Bruins to a 70-58 victory over the Tennessee State Lady Tigers Thursday night at the Curb Event Center.
Harmeyer set her season high in points and added four assist in the Bruins' 18th consecutive home win. Senior Maura Muensterman chipped in 15 points, four assists and four rebounds. In total, Belmont (16-8, 11-2 OVC) outrebounded the Lady Tigers by a 48-33 margin and grabbed 15 offensive boards.
Tennessee State (3-20, 1-12 OVC) was led by junior Jaden Wrightsell, who posted a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds. Three Lady Tigers finished with double-figure points.
AUSTIN PEAY 69, MURRAY STATE 61
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Despite leading for over 30 minutes Thursday, the Murray State women’s basketball team went cold in the waning minutes of the game and fell to Austin Peay, 68-60, at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tennessee in a First Financial Bank Battle of the Border matchup.
Murray State scored just three points in the last 2:30 minutes of the contest, compared to 10 by the Gov. Turnovers also played a critical role in the loss for the Racers with Murray State committing 15, while the Govs committed just six. Additionally, Austin Peay converted the Racers’ turnovers into 18 points, while Murray State scored zero points off of turnovers.
Austin Peay was led by Arielle Gonzalez-Varner with 18 points. Gonzalez-Varner was a perfect 8-for-8 from the line. Maggie Knowles chipped in 10 points.
Laci Hawthorne led Murray State with 15 points, while Alexi Burpo had nine with each player also pulling down nine rebounds. Macey Turley also added 11 points on the night, while Raegan Blackburn led the MSU bench with nine.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 71, UT MARTIN 69
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri defeated UT Martin, 71-69, to extend its winning streak to 10 games. The Redhawks improve to 19-5 overall and 11-2 in OVC play while the Skyhawks drop to 16-8 overall and 11-2 in league action.
Tesia Thompson led Southeast Missouri with 22 points and nine rebounds. She also had two assist and two steals. Carrie Shephard had 12 points while Jocelyn Taylor added 10 points.
UT Martin was led by Chelsey Perry who scored a game-high 36 points to go with eight boards. Maddie Waldrop had 12 points and seven boards.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 77, SIUE 71
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois battled in a better than advertised SIUE team Thursday night at Lantz Arena. The Panthers came out of the game victorious with five players scoring in double-digits. Karle Pace led the team in points with 21 on the night. Abby Wahl finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals, while Lariah Washington and Taylor Steele finished with 10 points. Jordyn Hughes rounded out the offense with 12 points off the bench. Eastern increases their win streak to four, as their record moves to 15-9 (9-4 OVC), while SIUE drops to 3-21 (1-12 OVC).
The Panthers struggled with the help defense of SIUE, but managed to find the open teammate and score. EIU as a team put up 19 assists, which is tied for the second most assist totals of the season. Steele made her return after five weeks of sitting out. Her impact was immediately felt by the team. Panthers fans were thrilled to see her back too, as the gym erupted after she nailed a deep three for her first field goal of the game. Steele has come back at a time that she was needed the most as we move closer to the OVC tournament.
Wahl was nothing short of dominant during this game. In the first half, the Cougars came down with 10 offensive rebounds which hurt the Panthers immensely. Wahl came back out in the second and shut that down, as she pulled in three offensive rebounds. It doesn't stand out too much on the stat sheet, but she was holding down the paint for the Panthers.
Kira Arthofer had a career night as she dished out eight assists. Arthofer's previous career high was six against UT Martin. Arthofer also tacked on three points and three rebounds.
Karle Pace became the 25th women's basketball player in the history of EIU basketball to notch 1,000 career points. Pace is only a junior and will have the rest of the season and next year to continue to move up the leader boards. Grace Lennox was the last EIU player to hit the mark.
Mikayla Kinnard scored a career-high 20 points for the Cougars, shooting 10 of 17 from the field with four assists and four steals.