THURSDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 87, @SIUE 49
@Tennessee State 96, Tennessee Tech 93 (OT)
UT Martin 70, @Austin Peay 62
@Murray State 82, Southeast Missouri 58
BELMONT 87, SIUE 49
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - A strong second half, five double-figure scorers and a season-best 21 assists propelled Belmont University women's basketball to a dominant 87-49 road victory at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Thursday evening to begin Ohio Valley Conference action. The Bruins (5-5, 1-0 OVC) didn't need long to shake off any rust from a 15-day break from game play, scorching the nets in the second half and coming away with a season-high nine blocks.
Ten different Belmont players scored, and all 11 available Bruins saw at least five minutes on the court in the conference opening road win.
Behind 58.6 percent (17-of-29) second-half shooting, Belmont outscored the host Cougars (4-8, 0-1 OVC) 49-21 across the final 20 minutes. Limiting SIUE to just seven made field goals and 20 percent shooting in the second half, the Bruins went 11-for-14 at the free-throw line and assisted on 12 of their 17 baskets.
Belmont made 12 steals, the second-most in a game this season, and forced 20 turnovers. Turning those Cougar miscues into 25 points, the Bruins outscored SIUE 40-12 off the bench and got 18 of their 87 points on the fast break.
Winning its sixth-straight OVC opener, Belmont improved to 5-0 in league openers under the direction of head coach Bart Brooks.
Sophomore forward Madison Bartley scored eight of the Bruins' first 10 points and the first quarter proved to be tightly contested. Knotted up at 13 with two minutes to go in the inaugural quarter, Belmont got three pointers from junior guard Nikki Baird and senior forward Conley Chinn as the Bruins ended the first on an 8-3 run.
Despite leading 21-16 heading into the second quarter, Belmont found itself trailing 24-23 with 6:31 to go in the half thanks to an 8-0 SIUE spurt. However, it would be the last time the Bruins would face a deficit for the remainder of the night.
Belmont closed the first half on an impressive 15-4 run over the last six-and-a-half minutes of the second quarter, getting 11 combined points from freshmen Tessa Miller and Kilyn McGuff and another four points from leading scorer Destinee Wells. McGuff's jumper with five seconds to go in the half gave the Bruins a convincing 10-point, 38-28 lead at the break.
Although Belmont shot just 37.5 percent in the second quarter, the Bruins were 14-for-31 (45.2 percent) from the field and 5-for-13 (38.5 percent) from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes of play. The Bruins held the Cougars to 33.3 percent (9-of-27) first-half shooting despite SIUE going 3-for-5 from distance.
Nothing shy of assertive in the third quarter, Belmont outscored the Cougars 24-11 on 64.7 percent (11-of-17) shooting. Seven different Bruins scored in the quarter and Belmont limited SIUE to only three made shots. The Bruins began the second half on a 9-2 run and never looked back. Dissecting the Cougars' defense and getting plenty of clean looks in the paint, Belmont built a 23-point lead on a Miller layup with 2:11 to go in the third.
Outscoring SIUE 25-20 in the final quarter, the Bruins scored 19-straight points across a five-and-a-half-minute stretch. McGuff capped the remarkable run to put Belmont up 39 at 83-44 with 2:07 remaining. Moments later, Baird made a layup to give the Bruins their first 40-point advantage of the season at 85-45 with 90 seconds left.
SIUE's Gabby Nikitinaite scored her 1,000th career collegiate point finishing with 12 points on the night. Mikayla Kinnard led the Cougars in scoring overall with 14 points.
TENNESSEE STATE 96, TENNESSEE TECH 93
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Recap coming soon.
UT MARTIN 70, AUSTIN PEAY 62
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - he two-time defending Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team opened league play on Thursday evening with a 70-62 road victory at Austin Peay.
The Skyhawks (4-8, 1-0 OVC) found a much-needed victory to snap a six-game losing streak and pick up their first win in the month of December. The team's recipe for success came on the offensive end where the squad posted its highest scoring performance of the season with 70 points behind a pair of career-best individual outings.
Hampered by injuries throughout the season and down two more players with the flu, the Skyhawks hit the road with just eight available players this evening. Despite playing short-handed once again and facing a squad which had not faced a deficit in four games, UT Martin led for over 35 minutes of the contest after posting season-bests in total points (70), field goals made (25) and field goal percentage (56.8) while scoring 34 points in the paint.
Junior guard Paige Pipkin enjoyed an impressive evening by leading all scorers with a new career-high of 33 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field while knocking down 8-of-9 free throw attempts. Freshman guard Shae Littleford also set a new personal-high by tossing in 16 points while adding four rebounds, four steals and three assists to her stat line in 40 minutes of action.
Austin Peay (7-4, 0-1 OVC) saw its four-game winning streak come to an end despite a strong fourth quarter push. With the Govs facing an 18-point deficit heading into the fourth, the home squad put up 28 points in the final quarter to cut the margin down to five with just over a minute to play in the game before the Skyhawks held on down the stretch.
The Govs placed three players in double figures overall with two-time OVC Player of the Week Yamia Johnson leading the team with 14 points off the bench – all of which coming in the second half. Kasey Kidwell (12 points) and Shay-Lee Kirby (11 points, eight rebounds) also scored in double-digits to pace Austin Peay.
MURRAY STATE 82, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 58
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State women’s basketball team opened its 45th season of OVC play with a convincing 82-58 win over Southeast Missouri Thursday at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
Katelyn Young scored a career-high 31 points to lead the Racers Thursday. She surpassed her previous high of 28 by three points which was set earlier this season at Evansville
Murray State finished with a plus-20 rebounding margin Thursday, out-rebounding Southeast Missouri, 44-24. Young, Alexis Burpo and Hannah McKay led the Racers with nine boards each, while Jaidah Black followed with a career-high eight.
The Racers shot 91.3-percent from the free throw line on the night, making 21 of 23 attempts. Katelyn Young powered the Racers at the charity stripe Thursday by going a perfect 13-for-13 on her own and turning in the second-best single-game free throw performance in program history. Young’s night at the line against SEMO is now second only to Ke’Shunan James’ 20-for-20 night in 2017.
Southeast Missouri's Deanay Watson posted 14 points and Roshala Scott added 12.
Leading the league in assists per game headed into Thursday night’s contest at 15.5, the Racers continued their unselfishness with the ball against the Redhawks by assisting on 18 of 28 made shots.
Lex Mayes went 3-for-6 from 3-point range to follow Young on the scoresheet Thursday with 13 points, while McKay added 11.
After committing a season-high 25 turnovers in its last game against Florida, Murray State turned the ball over just 12 time against Southeast Missouri, its second-fewest amount this season.