SATURDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 73, Southeast Missouri 66
@Austin Peay 75, Eastern Illinois 72
@Belmont 67, Murray State 52
SIUE 73, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 66
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE women's basketball erased a double-digit halftime deficit Saturday en route to a 73-66 victory over Southeast Missouri in Ohio Valley Conference action at First Community Arena.
SIUE improved to 6-8 overall and 2-1 in the OVC after playing its first contest in two weeks.
The Cougars watched their freshman Sofie Lowis and fifth-year senior Allie Troeckler light up the scoreboard. Lowis pumped in five three-pointers and led all scorers with 21 points. Troeckler matched her career high with 20 points and made it double-double No. 8 in her career by adding a game-high 10 rebounds.
Southeast Missouri dropped to 4-13 overall and 0-6 in the OVC. Taelour Pruitt powered the Redhawks' offense with 20 points.
The Cougars and the Redhawks were even after one period, but Southeast Missouri pushed it to a 10-point lead at halftime by nine points in the second period from Pruitt and eight more from Deanay Watson.
Lowis starred in the first half with all of her treys, shooting 5 of 8 from three-point range.
SIUE's third period was much like SEMO's second period with a 10-point deficit. The game was tied once again after three periods on a pair of free throws from Troeckler.
The difference maker in the fourth period was Troeckler, who was honored pregame for her 1,000th career point along with teammate Gabby Nikitinaite. She would score eight points in the fourth period and proved strong in the paint.
SEMO committed 27 turnovers and lost the rebounding battled to the Cougars 42-37.
Mikia Keith also turned in a strong performance for SIUE with 11 points and a team-leading five assists.
Southeast Missouri's Taelour Pruitt led the Redhawks with 20 points while Deanay Watson added 17.
AUSTIN PEAY 75, EASTERN ILLINOIS 72
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois Women's Basketball showed great effort coming off of a two-week COVID pause, but came up just short on the road against the Austin Peay Governors on Saturday afternoon.
The Panthers got out to a fast start, taking an 8-2 lead behind six early points from Kira Arthofer. The Panthers would ultimately lead 18-10 after the first quarter. Austin Peay came storming back in the second quarter, outscoring EIU 27-13 in the period to take a 37-31 lead into the half.
EIU would strike right back at the Governors to begin the third quarter, using a 19-7 run spearheaded by nine straight points from Lariah Washington to take a 50-44 lead. Austin Peay would remain in striking distance, but the Panthers led 54-53 entering the fourth quarter.
After two Taris Thornton free throws got the scoring going in the final period, Austin Peay used a 7-0 run to take a 60-56 lead. A converted and-one by Washington cut the lead to one, but a subsequent 10-0 Governors run put EIU in an 11-point hole with four minutes to go in regulation. Two free throws back-to-back by Washington and Wahl followed by a Jordyn Hughes steal and subsequent Arthofer bucket cut the lead to five. After the teams traded baskets, a Washington steal which led to yet another converted and-one opportunity by the junior cut the APSU lead to two with 1:28 to go. After an Austin Peay three-pointer made the deficit five again, Julia Bengtson made a layup off of an excellent cut to pull EIU back to within three. The Panthers would ultimately get one final chance to send the game into overtime, but Washington's three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.
Washington led the team with a season-high 26 points off a season-high 10 made shots on 17 attempts. Arthofer contributed with 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting, four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and her first blocked shot of the season. Hughes, Bengtson, and Abby Wahl each had seven points. Wahl also led the team in rebounds with seven. Bengtson recorded four rebounds and three assists, both tying her season high.
EIU turned Austin Peay over 15 times and outscored the Governors 17-11 in points off turnovers. The Panthers also held advantages in points in the paint (40-36), second chance points (7-4), and fast break points (10-0).
Austin Peay was led by Yamia Johnson with 26 points while Karle Pace had 15 points and D'Shara Booker chipped in 14.
BELMONT 67, MURRAY STATE 62
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Sophomore forward Madison Bartley scored a career-high 29 points and the Belmont University women's basketball team knocked down 10 three-pointers against Murray State University Saturday afternoon inside the Curb Event Center for the Bruins' fifth-straight victory. Keeping one of the top shooting teams in the nation to under 40 percent from the field, Belmont defeated the visiting Racers 67-52 to move to 5-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play and remain undefeated in the new year.
The Bruins (9-5, 5-0 OVC) shot 48 percent (26-of-54) for the afternoon, limited Murray State (11-5, 3-2 OVC) to 4-for-13 (30.8 percent) from beyond the arc and forced 17 turnovers while controlling the game from the opening tip. Bartley set the tone early and Belmont used an impressive fourth quarter to pull away from the Racers, outscoring Murray State 33-22 in the second half.
Limiting the Racers to just two made field goals across the final 10 minutes, the Bruins went 6-for-9 from the floor in the fourth quarter and shot 56.5 percent (13-of-23) percent in the second half.
Despite facing a 32-26 deficit on the glass, Belmont outscored Murray State 30-24 in the paint thanks to Bartley's big outing. Leading for nearly 39 minutes of the contest, the Bruins responded to an early second-half surge by the Racers with a lengthy 29-12 run over 14 minutes of action.
Matching the most points scored by a Belmont player this season on 12-for-16 shooting, Bartley pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Extending her double-figure scoring streak to 28, sophomore guard Destinee Wells notched 12 points while distributing a game-best seven assists.
Bartley scored the first five points of the home affair and had nine of the Bruins' first 15 as Belmont led by six at the first media timeout. A scoring drought over the closing 4:53 of the opening quarter got the Racers within two at 15-13, but Belmont capped a 12-2 run over the first three minutes of the second quarter with a Wells trey to go up 27-15.
Murray State outscored the Bruins 15-7 over a 6:44 stretch to climb within four at 34-30 right before the break.
Both teams shot around 40 percent across the first 20 minutes, but Belmont limited the Racers to 1-for-3 shooting from distance in the first half. Murray State went 9-for-9 at the free-throw line in the opening half.
Murray State was led by Macey Turley with 15 points while Katelyn Young had 14 points and Hannah McKay added 11.