SATURDAY'S SCORES
SIUE 77, @Morehead State 52
@Eastern Illinois 68, Southeast Missouri 44
Austin Peay 72, @Tennessee State 69
Tennessee Tech 57, @Belmont 55
@Murray State 65, UT Martin 49
SIUE 77, MOREHEAD STATE 52
MOREHEAD, Ky. - SIUE women's basketball opened Saturday's matchup at Morehead State with a 16-2 run and never looked back in a 77-52 rout at Johnson Arena.
SIUE improved to 7-10 overall and 3-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Morehead State dropped its 13th straight game and is now 1-14 overall as well as 0-5 in the OVC. The Cougars will have less than 48 hours to return home and prepare for Monday's matchup against Murray State. Game time is 5:30 p.m. at First Community Arena.
Mikayla Kinnard led the SIUE charge with 14 points on a 6-of-10 shooting performance. She added a game-high six assists.
Kelsie Williams also stepped up for a season-high 11 points off the bench. She shot 5 of 9 from the field.
SIUE post player Ajulu Thatha pulled down nine rebounds for the Cougars, also a season high.
Jada Claude led Morehead State in scoring with 12 points as the Cougars held the Eagles to 19 of 59 shooting from the field (32.2 percent). Morehead State was 1 of 17 from three-point range (5.9 percent).
SIUE was able to get significant minutes for a number of players. Madison Webb scored six points in nine minutes. Masyn McWilliams scored six points in 17 minutes. And freshman Tyler Butler scored her first collegiate points Saturday, finishing with four points in three minutes played.
The Cougars easily won the battle on the boards 45-33. That included 16 offensive rebounds.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 68, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 44
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois women's basketball cruised to a 68-44 win over the Southeast Missouri Redhawks on Saturday afternoon at Lantz Arena. With the win, the Panthers now stand at 8-9 overall on the season and 3-3 in OVC conference play.
The Panthers started hot again, taking the early 7-2 lead, but SEMO managed to stay within striking distance for the first quarter. Up 13-12 late in the period, a Lariah Washington converted and-one opportunity followed by a Taris Thornton layup gave the Panthers an 18-12 lead going into the second quarter. After the Redhawks got the first bucket of the second period, EIU went on a 6-0 run to take a 24-14 lead. After SEMO responded with a 6-0 run of their own, a converted and-one opportunity by Kira Arthofer sparked an 11-4 Panther run to end the half.
Up 38-26 early in the third quarter, 14 straight points from Washington for the Panthers would put EIU comfortably out front, 52-27. SEMO never closed the deficit beyond 19 points and EIU cruised to victory from there.
Washington led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field to go along with eight rebounds and four assists. The game marked her third 20-point effort of the season and her 14th double-digit scoring performance in 17 games this season. Arthofer scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting, dished out six assists, and recorded three steals. The freshmen played a factor for EIU once again, as Thornton scored eight points and collected six rebounds, while Julia Bengtson scored seven points, dished out three assists, and recorded three steals.
EIU turned SEMO over 22 times and outscored the Redhawks 29-8 in points off turnovers. The Panthers also shared the rock efficiently, recording 20 assists on 26 made shots.
Kennedi Watkins led the Redwaks with 13 points and 11 boards
AUSTIN PEAY 72, TENNESSEE STATE 69
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Trailing by four points with 1:23 left in the game, Ella Sawyer drilled a corner three-pointer, drew a foul, and converted the four-point play to tie the game and propel the Austin Peay State University women's basketball team to its third-straight Ohio Valley Conference win in a 72-69 thriller at Tennessee State, Saturday, in the Gentry Center.
After Sawyer's four-point play tied the game at 64 with 1:23 left to play, Austin Peay (12-5, 5-2 OVC) got a stop on the defense, and Karle Pace pulled down the defensive rebound before going coast-to-coast for a layup, drawing a foul, and converting the three-point play to put the Govs ahead, 67-64, with 55 seconds left in the game.
Trailing by three with less than a minute on the clock, Tennessee State (10-8, 5-2 OVC) was forced to foul the Governors in an attempt to extend the contest. The Lady Tigers were able to knock back-to-back shots down the stretch, bringing the Governors' lead back within a single point, but Pace went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final 33 seconds of the game to hold off Tennessee State.
Pace scored the final eight points of the contest for Austin Peay, en route to a season-high and game-high 23 points. D'Shara Booker and Sawyer joined Pace in double-figures with 15 and 10 points, respectively, Booker has now scored in double-figures in three-straight games.
Austin Peay got off to a fast start, with Pace and Shay-Lee Kirby hitting three-pointers on two of the first three possessions of the game to build an 8-4 lead with 6:31 left in the first period. After a Sawyer layup and another Kirby triple, Tennessee State was forced to call a timeout with Govs lead, 13-6, at the 5:02 mark in the opening quarter.
After Pace drew an offensive foul out of the timeout, the Govs built their biggest lead of the first quarter, 15-6, after Booker's first bucket of the game. The Governors and Lady Tigers traded baskets for the remainder of the first quarter, but Yamia Johnson got the final bucket to give Austin Peay a 23-16 lead after ten minutes of action.
With the Govs leading 28-20 a the 6:33 mark in the second period, Tennessee State went on a 9-0 run that lasted 2:23 and built a one-point advantage. But Austin Peay answered right back, with Liz Gibbs and Sawyer each knocking down a pair of free throws to put the Govs ahead by three, 32-29, with 2:55 left before the half.
The Governors took a six-point lead with 55 seconds left before halftime when Nina De Leon Negron buried a three-pointer for her first points of the game, but Tennessee State's Dominique Claytor scored two of her team-high 18 points to close the half and Austin Peay led, 37-34, at the break.
After a Tennessee State bucket to start the second half, De Leon Negron connected on another three-pointer to spark a quick 7-0 run and push the lead back to nine points, 44-35, with 7:22 left on the clock. With the lead still at nine points and 1:39 seconds left in the third quarter, Pace knocked down another three to give Austin Peay its biggest lead, 53-41, of the afternoon.
However, Tennessee State closed the third period on a 7-0 run and the Governors led, 53-48, with ten minutes of basketball left to play.
The Lady Tigers were able to trim the Govs' lead to just a single point with 7:42 left to play, but Pace hit another triple and then knocked down a pair of free throws to go on a 5-0 run all by herself and push the lead back to six points, 60-54, at the 6:32 mark in the final period.
Trailing by six points, Tennessee State went on a 10-0 run that lasted 3:49 and built a 64-60 lead with 2:43 left in the game. The late Lady Tigers run set up Sawyer's game-tying four-point play and the clutch late-game free-throw shooting of Pace that led the Governors to their eighth-consecutive win against Tennessee State and their fourth-consecutive win in the Gentry Center.
Dominique Claytor led the Lady Tigers with 18 points in 35 minutes. Three other Lady Tigers finished in double figures — Gia Adams (13), Sierra McCullough and Tatyana Davis each had 10 points.
TENNESSEE TECH 57, BELMONT 55
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A gutsy second half and late drama led to a one possession game with seconds remaining, but the Belmont University women's basketball team ultimately had its six-game winning streak snapped by visiting Tennessee Tech Saturday afternoon inside the Curb Event Center. The Bruins' two shot attempts at the front of the rim right before time expired came up just short in a 57-55 setback, giving Belmont (10-6, 6-1 OVC) its first Ohio Valley Conference loss of the season.
Despite tying up the score at 55 apiece on a Destinee Wells driving layup with 21 seconds left, the Bruins were unable to stop the Golden Eagles' Anna Jones on a baseline score with just over five seconds to go. Following a timeout, sophomore forward Madison Bartley's layup hit iron before senior forward Conley Chinn grabbed the rebound and nearly had a game-tying putback. Time ran out as sophomore guard Tuti Jones fought for the loose ball.
Tennessee Tech (10-7, 5-2 OVC) missed four free throws in the final minute and five of its last six, leaving the door ajar for Belmont.
Trailing for 36-and-a-half minutes of the game, the Bruins evened things twice in the fourth quarter but could never gain the lead. Belmont outscored the Golden Eagles by four in the final period but was hampered by 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) three-point shooting for the afternoon.
Going 6-for-14 (43 percent) at the free-throw line, the Bruins were outscored 26-16 in the paint.
A positive start put Belmont in front early as Bartley scored the first four points of the game and accounted for the Bruins' initial six.
After the visitors built a 10-6 lead Jones knocked down Belmont's first three-pointer, but Tennessee Tech held the Bruins scoreless for the last 4:45 of the opening quarter. The Golden Eagles took a 14-9 advantage into the second quarter.
Limiting Belmont to just one field in the first five minutes of the second quarter, Tennessee Tech built a 10-point lead at 21-11 thanks to a 7-0 Golden Eagle run over a 3:41 stretch of play.
An 8-0 Bruin run over the final 2:55 of the half got Belmont within one at 24-23 as sophomore guard Wells drained a triple from the corner in the closing seconds.
Although the Bruins outscored Tennessee Tech 14-10 in the second quarter, Belmont went 2-for-12 from beyond the arc in the first half and was held to just 32 percent (8-of-25) shooting. The Bruins missed five first-half free throws.
The Golden Eagles were not much better from the floor (33.3 percent) in the first half but connected on five of their 13 three-point attempts (38.5 percent).
A layin by Wells on a great find by Jones, followed by a Jones steal and three-pointer from Chinn kept Belmont within two at 30-28 three minutes into the second half. However, seven unanswered Tennessee Tech points gave the Golden Eagles a 37-28 lead at the midway point of the third quarter.
Threes by sophomore guard Blair Schoenwald and Jones got the Bruins within four at 38-34 with 2:48 left in the third. Jones would score seven-straight points to make it a two-point game at 40-38 with just over a minute to go in the third, but Tennessee Tech closed the quarter with a pair of free throws and a layup to take a six-point lead into the final quarter of action.
The Golden Eagles shot 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from the field and were 3-for-4 from distance in the third quarter.
A Tennessee Tech jumper early in the fourth made it an eight-point affair before Belmont put together a 13-5 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes of play. Bartley's layup at the 4:40 mark capped the run and knotted up the score for the first time of the day at 51.
After an empty possession and three Golden Eagle free throws, Jones collected an offensive rebound on the back end of a pair of Bruin missed foul shots. Freshman forward Tessa Miller capitalized on the second-chance opportunity with a layup to make it a one-point game at 54-53 with 2:48 on the clock.
Belmont came up empty-handed on three consecutive offensive trips, but Tennessee Tech hit only one of six free throws as head coach Bart Brooks called a timeout with 25 seconds remaining following a Wells defensive board. Wells' tying layup and the final sequence of events took place after the 30-second break.
All told, the Bruins shot 38.2 percent (21-of-55) for the contest after going 13-for-30 (43.3 percent) in the second half. The Golden Eagles shot 52.4 percent (11-of-21) in the second half and were 3-of-6 from long range, finishing 42.2 percent (19-of-45) overall from the field and 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from distance.
Jones led all scorers with 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting as she tallied five rebounds and came up with four steals. Wells finished with 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting and four assists. Bartley had nine points and both Chinn and Miller recorded six boards each.
Tennessee Tech's Anna Jones notched 15 points after going 7-of-11 from the floor and the Golden Eagles got 13 points from guard Peyton Carter.
MURRAY STATE 65, UT MARTIN 49
MURRAY, Ky. - Fresh off a 16-day layoff and armed with just seven healthy players for today’s game, the University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team battled Ohio Valley Conference rival Murray State in their return to action but ultimately ran out of steam down the stretch to drop the road matchup 65-49.
The Skyhawks (4-11, 1-3 OVC) suffered their third consecutive loss after coming head-to-head with a red-hot shooting Racer squad which shot 56.1 percent from the floor and knocked down 61.5 percent of their three-point attempts. UT Martin stayed in the contest by taking care of the ball and committing just six turnovers in the game while forcing 16 on the other end despite shooting 36.5 percent themselves.
Neither team would pose significant runs in the contest with the game’s largest run coming in the first quarter and totaling just six points. The Racers would jump out to an early lead however and hardly looked back, leading for over 39 minutes of the contest in a game which featured just two lead changes.
UT Martin’s depth was stretched to its limits as the bench featured just two players. Junior Paige Pipkin led the Skyhawks offensively by scoring 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting while classmate Kyannah Grant tossed in 12 points to also reach double figures.
Murray State (13-6, 5-3 OVC) saw three players score in double figures including a game-high 17 points from Lex Mayes who knocked down five three-pointers. The league’s leading scorer Katelyn Young also tossed in 16 points and five rebounds while Hannah McKay rounded out the trio with 13 points to snap a six-game losing streak to the Skyhawks.