SATURDAY'S SCORES
Austin Peay 71, @Morehead State 61
@UT Martin 55, Tennessee State 46
Eastern Illnois 72, @Southeast Missouri 53
@Murray State 87, SIUE 73
Belmont 58, @Tennessee Tech 49
AUSTIN PEAY 71, MOREHEAD STATE 61
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Eagles pieced together their finest performance in OVC play this season, featuring a number of career best performances, but the high energy effort wasn't enough, as Morehead State fell in heartbreaking fashion to Austin Peay Saturday, 71-61.
The Eagles had an incredible shooting performance, connecting on over half of their shots in the first half, and were led by a three headed scoring attack that recorded all but four points for Morehead State on the game.
Karle Pace led Austin Peay with 21 points, hitting t a trio of three-pointers. Yamia Johnson notched a double-double with 17 poinits and 11 rebounds. D'Shara Booker and Lyric Cole each added 10 points.
Terri Smith led the charge for the Eagles, pouring in 23 points on the strength of a career high seven three-pointers, tying her for the most made threes from anyone in the OVC this season. Julan McDonald had the best game of her collegiate career, posting a career high 22 points to go with a career high six blocks, and Jada Claude rounded out the Morehead State attack with 12 points and six rebounds.
The Eagles fell into an early 12-4 hole to start the game, but launched an energetic end to the quarter, with a 9-2 run being capped off by a buzzer beating jumper from Jada Claude. The Eagles kept the run going into the second quarter, taking an 18-14 lead on the strength of an and-one from Julan McDonald before the Governors went on an 8-0 run of their own to snatch back the lead. Terri Smith then proceeded to take over the quarter, connecting on three straight triples, leading the Eagles to a 34-32 advantage at halftime.
The Eagles stayed hot to open the 3rd quarter, using an 8-0 run to build a 10 point lead, but the Governors responded with a 9-0 run to trim the lead to only one, but Morehead State again had the answer, launching an 8-2 run of their own, but a late barrage from Austin Peay, capped off by a buzzer beater gave them the 51-50 lead into the final quarter of play.
The Governors opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run, but the Eagles clawed back, cutting the game to 61-58 inside the final two minutes, but an and-one in with under a minute to play put Austin Peay up by eight and finally put down the Eagles.
UT MARTIN 55, TENNESSEE STATE 46
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team took an early lead and never trailed in the contest on the way to a 55-46 Ohio Valley Conference win over visiting Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon.
The Skyhawks (7-14, 4-6 OVC) jumped out to an early advantage behind an impressive first quarter which saw the team string together a 9-0 run and push out their advantage to 12 points. With a big margin in their pockets, the squad maintained it’s defensive pressure throughout the game and forced a season-high 29 turnovers while notching 17 steals.
The Lady Tigers did chip away at the deficit in the third quarter, cutting the margin from nine points down to a tie ballgame with 6:08 to play in the period. After the brief tie, UT Martin finished the period on a 13-5 run to push the score back out to a comfortable margin heading into the fourth. Once in the final quarter of play, the score fluctuated back-and-forth before the Skyhawks put the finishing touches on the nine-point victory down the stretch.
UT Martin struggled with its shooting touch in the contest by making just 17-of-51 field goal attempts (33.3 percent) but made up for it with its defensive presence. The Skyhawks forced 29 turnovers which turned into 28 points while cashing in on 18 points in the paint. The team’s 17 steals also marked a season-high for the Skyhawks while adding four blocks to the stat sheet.
The Skyhawks were led in scoring by sophomore Seygan Robins who scored 11 points while tallying five steals and four assists. Veterans Kyannah Grant and Holly Forbes finished just outside double figures with nine points on the day while freshman Shanice Simpson-Whiteley notched six points and eight rebounds in 13 minutes.
Tennessee State (11-12, 6-6 OVC) battled injuries during the contest before Gia Adams ultimately led the squad in scoring with 11 points. Tatyana Davis ranked second on the team with eight points off the bench while Kianni Westbrook tallied five points and seven rebounds to lead the squad on the boards.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 72, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 53
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Eastern Illinois women's basketball overcame a slow start offensively to earn a 72-53 win over the Southeast Missouri Redhawks. With the win, the Panthers improve to 12-10 overall on the season and 7-4 in Ohio Valley Conference action. The win also clinched EIU's second straight season sweep of SEMO.
It was a slow start offensively for the Panthers, as they began the game just 2-of-10 from the field as a team. Despite this, the Panthers managed to jump out to an early 5-0 lead. The first quarter then became a game of runs, as SEMO responded with an 8-3 run to tie the game 8-8, which EIU answered with a 6-1 run to go up 14-9 before ultimately ending the period with a 17-15 lead. Jordyn Hughes hit a three-pointer to get the scoring started in the second quarter, but EIU's offense briefly stalled again as SEMO cut the lead to 1. The Panthers then seized control with a 7-0 run, giving them a 27-19 lead. The Panthers maintained a lead throughout the remainder of the quarter before another Hughes three at the buzzer gave EIU a 34-28 halftime lead.
EIU upped their lead to 40-28 to begin the third quarter, and the Redhawks did not pose a significant threat for the remainder of the contest. The Panthers outscored SEMO 32-25 from that point forward to seal the deal.
Lariah Washington led the Panthers with 15 points, while also dishing out four assists and recording three steals. Abby Wahl was a big-time force in the paint, scoring 14 points on 7-of-13 shooting and collecting nine rebounds. Hughes went 3-of-4 from three-point range and scored 13. Morgan Litwiller scored 10 points and recorded seven rebounds. Miah Monahan continued her recent hot streak with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-4 from three-point range. While it wasn't her finest shooting performance, Kira Arthofer still managed to have an efficient performance with seven assists.
The Panthers outrebounded one of the top rebounding teams in the conference 33-28, making them 10-0 this season when outrebounding their opponent. EIU outscored SEMO 40-26 in points in the paint.
Deanay Watson led the Redhawks with 15 points while Roshala Scott had 12 points. Kennedy Watkins recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
MURRAY STATE 87, SIUE 73
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State women’s basketball team bounced back after Thursday’s tough loss at Austin Peay to take down SIUE 87-73 at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
Fast Facts
After falling behind by as many as eight in the first quarter, the Racers strung together three 20-plus point quarters to close out the game. No quarter was bigger, perhaps, than the second as MSU scored a game-high 27 points in the frame, while limiting the Cougars to a game-low 10.
For just the second time in program history, but the second time in three seasons, Murray State completed the season sweep of the Cougars. In their last OVC game with SIUE, the Racers evened the all-time series with SIUE at 13, thanks in large part to MSU winning six of the last seven games in the series.
For the 10th time this season, four Racers reached double-digits points in the contest, while it was also the second time that two Racers scored 20 or more points. Macey Turley and Alexis Burpo each scored 20 points in the game, while Katelyn Young added 17 and Hannah McKay chipped in 12. The Racers are now 9-1 in games in which four or more Racers score 10-plus points.
Young led Murray State in rebounding on the night with 12, to notch her seventh double-double of the season. Turley was close to a double-double of her own as she had a game-high seven assists, as did Burpo, who also had eight rebounds to flirt with a triple-double
Gabby Nikitinaite led the Cougars in scoring with 19 points and fellow starter Mikayla Kinnard scored 14. Jaida Hampton posted a season-best 17 on 7-of-14 shooting from the field.
BELMONT 58, TENNESSEE TECH 49
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Trailing Tennessee Tech by seven at 48-41 with 6:40 to go on the road, the Belmont University women's basketball team was undeterred. The Bruins closed on a 17-1 run to pick up a crucial 58-49 Ohio Valley Conference victory, collecting their third consecutive win in the process.
Propelled by sophomore guard Destinee Wells' season-high 27 points, Belmont outscored the host Golden Eagles 22-5 in the fourth quarter after trailing by as much as eight with nine minutes left.
Anna Jones led Tennessee Tech with 12 points while Jada Guinn added 10.