THURSDAY'S SCORES
UT Martin 67, @SIUE 62
@Belmont 76, Morehead State 50
Tennessee Tech 65, @Eastern Illinois 56
@Austin Peay 79, Southeast Missouri 38
Murray State 79, @Tennessee State 53
UT MARTIN 67, SIUE 62
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team trailed by as much as 10 points in the second half before mounting a comeback attempts to pick up an Ohio Valley Conference victory at SIUE by a final score of 67-62 on Thursday afternoon in First Community Arena.
In a sloppy game which saw both teams commit 26 turnovers, the Skyhawks (8-15, 5-7 OVC) recorded a season-high 21 steals in the victory. The team’s 21 steals ranked as the highest total against a NCAA Division I opponent since also tallying 21 against Tennessee State on Feb. 17, 2014, while ranking as just the third 20+ steal performance for the program in nearly two decades.
UT Martin trailed for the first three quarters before finally taking its first lead of the game three minutes into the fourth quarter. SIUE quickly retook the lead and pushed it back out to three points until a three-pointer by Seygan Robins with 1:43 to play in the contest gave the Skyhawks their third lead of the quarter, an advantage they would not relinquish down the stretch.
After struggling to find an offensive rhythm in the first half with 21 points at the break, the Skyhawks exploded for 46 points in the second half to key the comeback attempt – their highest point total in a single half this season. During that stretch the team shot 56.5 percent from the field while knocking down six three-pointers to bring the squad’s game total up to a 47.8 percent shooting clip while holding the Cougars to just 31.6 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter.
The Skyhawks placed three players in double figures while graduate forward Holly Forbes posted an impressive showing with 18 points, eight rebounds and a career-high eight steals in the victory. Freshman Shae Littleford had a nice day in her home state with 15 points, four assists and three steals while Robins added 13 points, three assists and three steals off the bench.
SIUE (9-15, 5-8 OVC) dropped its fourth consecutive game despite leading for over 35 minutes in the contest. The Cougars were led by guard Gabby Nikitinaite with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists in the setback while Mikayla Kinnard (13 points) and Allie Troeckler (10 points) also reached double figures offensively
BELMONT 76, MOREHEAD STATE 50
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Behind four double-figure scorers and 51 percent shooting the Belmont University women's basketball team defeated visiting Morehead State University 76-51 Thursday evening inside the Curb Event Center. Claiming their fifth consecutive victory, the Bruins used a 22-9 third quarter to pull away from the visiting Eagles and got a near triple double from sophomore guard Tuti Jones.
Improving its Ohio Valley Conference-leading league record to 11-2 and moving to 15-7 overall, Belmont won its 15th straight against Morehead State (1-22, 0-13 OVC).
Jones grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds, collected a career-high tying seven steals and scored 10 points, while fellow sophomore guard Destinee Wells led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Senior forward Conley Chinn poured in 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting and the Bruins got 12 points and six boards from freshman forward Tessa Miller, who finished 5-of-6 from the floor.
The Bruins owned the glass, outrebounding the Eagles 45-26 and tallying a season-high 19 offensive boards. Belmont scored 48 points in the paint, earned 20 second-chance points and got 20 points off the bench.
Julan McDonald led Morehead State with 19 points.
TENNESSEE TECH 65, EASTERN ILLINOIS 56
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Just like the first meeting between the two teams, Thursday’s tilt between the Tennessee Tech and Eastern Illinois women was a battle. Both teams went back and forth with eight ties and six lead changes, and while the Golden Eagles were on top for 29 of the 40 minutes, it took a 10-1 run midway through the fourth quarter to finally create some separation between the two teams as Tech took a 65-56 victory at Lantz Arena.
The Golden Eagles improve to 15-8 overall, 10-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The battle between Mackenzie Coleman and EIU’s Abby Wahl was a good one as both players led their team in the fray. Coleman was 8-for-14 from the field, including two 3-pointers, and 5-for-7 from the free-throw line to finish the contest with 23 points. On the other end, Wahl was 7-for-10 from the field and 3-for-5 at the stripe for 17 points.
Coleman also won the rebound battle, pulling down a game-high 12 caroms, while Wahl finished the game with five rebounds. Jordyn Hughes and Lariah Washington led the Panthers (13-11, 8-5 OVC) in rebounds with six each.
Washington also scored in double-figures with 14 points, shooting 6-for-19 from the field, including 1-for-4 from 3-point range and 1-for-2 at the line.
Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles also had double-digit production from Anna Jones and Jada Guinn. Jones ended the game with 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting and 3-for-4 at the line, draining a trey along the way while also pulling down seven rebounds. Guinn had 10 points, six assists and four boards as she was 3-for-7 from the field and 4-for-6 from the line.
Both teams were hovering around 50-percent shooting in the first quarter as Tech escaped with a 15-12 lead after the opening period. EIU outscored the Golden Eagles 14-11 in the second as the two teams went to the locker room knotted at 26-all.
Eastern took a four-point lead near the eight-minute mark in the third quarter, but the Golden Eagles were able to regroup and reclaim the advantage. Tech outscored EIU 17-14 in the third to close the quarter with a 43-40 lead.
In the fourth, Tech used a 10-1 lead to surge out by 11 as Coleman knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to lead the assault. The Golden Eagles outscored EIU 22-16 in the final period but was able to keep the Panthers at arm’s length in the waning moments.
Tech ended the game 5-for-21 from 3-point range and 16-of-24 from the free-throw line.
AUSTIN PEAY 79, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 39
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Karle Pace led a trio of Governors in double-figures scoring as Southeast Missouri women's basketball (5-19, 1-12 OVC) fell to Austin Peay (16-6, 9-3 OVC), 79-38, Thursday at the Winfield Dunn Center.
Pace paced Austin Peay with a game-high 17 points followed by Yamia Johnson (16 points) and Ella Sawyer (12 points).
Taelour Pruitt led SEMO with 13 points in her 100th career game as a Redhawk. The senior from Crowley, Texas, shot 5-for-13 from the field including 3-for-9 from distance with three rebounds and a steal in a game-high 33 minutes.
Austin Peay jumped out to an 8-1 lead Thursday.
Halle Smith completed a three-point play to cut the margin in half with 5:12 left in the first quarter.
The Governors concluded the first frame on a 12-2 run to take a 20-6 advantage. The Redhawks committed 10 turnovers in the opening quarter.
Austin Peay grabbed its largest lead of the first half, 30-9, after a three-pointer by Pace at 6:45 in the second quarter.
SEMO once again cut the deficit in half, this time with consecutive triples by Kori Tomlin and Pruitt, to make the score 30-15 with 4:12 left in the opening half.
Pruitt added a lay-up to push the Redhawks run to 8-0.
The Govs took a 36-19 lead to the locker room for halftime.
APSU kept their foot on the gas and commenced the third quarter on an 11-0 run to widen the gap to 47-19. The rally prolonged a 13-0 run.
Pruitt knocked down a deep three to make the score 50-22 at the 5:20 mark in the third.
The Govs outscored SEMO, 23-6, in the third quarter and 43-19 in the second half.
The Redhawks commenced the final quarter with back-to-back buckets by Pruitt and Deanay Watson to make the scoreboard read 59-29 Austin Peay with 8:54 to go.
Watson finished Thursday with seven points and four boards, shooting 3-for-7 from the field.
APSU took its largest lead of the day, 79-35, after a three-pointer by Shay-Lee Kirby with 53 seconds left in regulation.
The Governors outshot SEMO, 45 percent to 27.7 percent. Austin Peay finished the game with a 50 percent clip in the fourth quarter.
The Govs also shot 45 percent from three-point land.
APSU outrebounded the Redhawks, 49-24, and forced 23 SEMO turnovers.
Austin Peay also led points in the paint (32-16), points off turnovers (24-13), second chance points (18-7) and bench points (35-12).
Kennedi Watkins grabbed a team-high five rebounds with four points and two blocks.
Johné Stewart paced SEMO with two steals to complement four points, three rebounds and an assist.
Chandler Davis made her second-straight start.
Lyric Cole grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for APSU.
For SEMO, the 38 points is a season low total along with the field goal rate of 13-for-47, 24 rebounds and six assists.
MURRAY STATE 79, TENNESSEE STATE 53
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Murray State women’s basketball team appeared to be firing on all cylinders Thursday night as they took down Tennessee State, 79-53, at the Gentry Center in Nashville.
Fast Facts
With her first made 3-pointer of the night, Macey Turley became just the third player in program history to make 200-plus 3-point shots. She joins Mariah Robinson and Amber Guffey as the only three players in MSU history to accomplish the feat.
The win was the 17th of the season, marking not only the most wins in a season of the Rechelle Turner era, but also the most overall since 2008-09. Of those 17 wins, 10, including Thursday’s win over the Tigers, have been by 20 or more points.
For the 3rd time this season, Murray State had five players reach double digits in scoring. Hannah McKay and Katelyn Young led the Racers with 18 points each, while Alexis Burpo, Macey Turley and Lex Mayes had each had 11.
Murray State assisted on a high-rate of made baskets once again, dropping 23 assists on 27 made baskets. Burpo led the way in the category with a game-high seven on the night.
The Racers were nearly perfect at the free throw line, going 19-for-22 including a perfect 8-for-8 by Young.
Murray State improved on its nationally ranked rebounding margin of plus-9.5 Thursday, by out-rebounding the Tigers, 41-30. Burpo led Murray State on the boards with nine, while Young added eight and McKay chipped in with 11.
Tennessee State's Tatyana Davis led Tennessee State with 17 points while Alexis Pierce added 15.