SATURDAY'S SCORES
Southeast Missouri 87, @Morehead State 77
@Tennessee Tech 83, Tennessee State 76
@Eastern Illniois 44, Little Rock 33
@SIUE 74, Lindenwood 63
UT Martin 63, @Southern Indiana 60
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 87, MOREHEAD STATE 77
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Rahmena Henderson scored a career-high 25 points and Kiyley Flowers added a career-best 20 to lead Southeast Missouri (7-10, 2-4) to an 87-77 come-from-behind victory over Morehead State (6-11, 2-4) Saturday afternoon at Ellis T. Johnson Arena.
Henderson scored 10 of her points in the second quarter before scoring 14 more in the fourth quarter where SEMO outscored the Eagles, 31-17, en route to its seventh win of the season.
A native of Neptune, N.J., Henderson at one time scored seven points in a row in the decisive fourth period. She buried a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions at the end of that stretch to grab the Redhawks a 71-64 lead with 5:51 remaining.
After that, MSU never recovered and fell behind by 10 (81-71) in the final minute when Kennedi Watkins made a free throw with 39 seconds to go. SEMO led for the last 7:15 of the contest after Henderson's layup initially regained the lead for SEMO.
MSU made five 3-pointers and shot 64.3 percent to build a double-digit first quarter lead.
SEMO, which trailed 25-13 early in the second quarter, rallied behind Henderson's 10 points to take its first lead of the game.
The Redhawks went on a 12-2 run and got within two on Henderson's jumper off a MSU turnover. Henderson later hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point contest and then gave SEMO a 31-29 edge when she scored a layup, was fouled and converted her 3-point play.
Watkins added a basket to give the Redhawks a 33-29 advantage before the Eagles answered with the final six points to take a 35-33 halftime lead.
SEMO outscored MSU, 20-12, and forced eight turnovers in the second quarter. The Redhawks also made 56 percent (9-of-16) of their shots in that period.
While the second period belonged to Henderson, it was Flowers who took control of the next 10 minutes.
Flowers dropped in 10 points of her own and tied the game when she drove the lane, scored in traffic and was fouled. Her free throw brought the score to 53-53 with 3:27 in the third quarter. Flowers scored all 10 of her points consecutively in less than two minutes.
SEMO shot a season-high 50.8 percent (31-of-61) from the field and put three players in double figures.
Henderson shot 9-of-14 and made three 3-pointers in 22 minutes off the bench, while Flowers shot 6-of-10, drained three 3-pointers and made a perfect 5-of-5 free throws. All of Flower' points were off the bench, as well. SEMO received 56 points from its reserves.
Jaliyah Green chipped in 13 points as the Redhawks only starter in double figures.
Additionally, SEMO's 87 points marked a season-high. SEMO last scored over 80 points in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Jan. 2, 2021 (84 vs. Tennessee State).
Sophie Benharouga and Sandra Lin led MSU with 19 points apiece.
TENNESSEE TECH 83, TENNESSEE STATE 76
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee State came out on fire, but Tennessee Tech found a way to weather the storm as the Golden Eagles surged back to erase the early deficit and outscored the Lady Tigers in each of the final three quarters to come away with an 83-76 victory on Saturday afternoon in the Hooper Eblen Center.
Tech improved to 11-5, 5-1 in the OVC, while the Lady Tigers fell to 7-10, 2-4 in the conference. With Little Rock’s loss to Eastern Illinois, the Golden Eagles move into a tie for second with the Trojans with Tech traveling to Little Rock on Thursday.
Jada Guinn had a nearly perfect game, shooting 8-for-9 from the field and 8-for-9 at the free-throw line to score a career-high 24 points. Maaliya Owens followed up her career night on Thursday with another solid showing with 21 points, including five 3-pointers, while true freshman Reghan Grimes posted a new season-best with 17 points.
Tennessee State surged out to a nine-point lead three times in the first quarter as the Lady Tigers forced five turnovers and the Golden Eagles had a tough time getting early shots to fall. Tech shot 5-for-17 in the first 10 minutes, including 2-for-7 from long-range.
The Lady Tigers, meanwhile, were scorching early on, though they cooled to a still-warm 57.9 percent as the first quarter came to a close, knocking down 11 of their 19 shots. Gia Adams and Erica Haynes-Overton each scored eight points in the first quarter, but foul trouble later slowed down Haynes-Overton and an injury sidelined Adams as they ended up with four and three more points respectively for the remainder of the game.
The second quarter was almost a complete inverse as it was the Golden Eagles shooting exactly 50 percent in the stanza, while TSU cooled down, hitting 4-for-15. The Lady Tigers fared better at the free-throw line, shooting 5-of-7 to Tech’s 4-of-8.
Owens scored seven of her points in the period, while Grimes had five to pace the Golden Eagles to 21 points in the quarter, outscoring the Lady Tigers by eight to make it a 38-37 TSU advantage at the half.
Guinn turned up the pressure in the third quarter as she scored nine of Tech’s 23 points as she was 4-for-4 from the field and 1-for-1 at the line. After some early lead swaps, the Golden Eagles were able to put together a 6-0 run and take a seven-point 55-48 advantage with 3:16 left in the quarter.
TSU was far from out though – the Lady Tigers hit five straight free throws with two from Lyric Cole, one from Adams and a pair for Ashley Malone before she came through with a turnaround jumper to knot the game at 55.
Tech closed out the quarter retaking the lead as Guinn made a fast-break layup and drew a foul from Cole. Guinn cleared the and-one shot to give the Golden Eagles a 60-57 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Grimes helped put a cap on the game as she scored nine points in the final 10 minutes, shooting 2-for-2 and 5-for-5 at the line. Guinn did her part too, adding her final seven points with one field goal and 5-for-6 at the line.
While Tech had troubles at the free-throw line on the day, it wasn’t in the fourth quarter as the Golden Eagles hit the shots in clutch time, going 12-for-15 in the fourth. Tech was 15-for-22 in the entire game.
With Adams sidelined and Haynes-Overton trying to avoid her disqualifying foul, Saniah Parker tried to keep the Lady Tigers in reach, leading TSU with eight points in the final 10 minutes, while Malone had five. Parker and Malone ended up leading the Lady Tigers with 14 points each, while Adams ended with 12 and Haynes-Overton with 11.
After the Golden Eagles extended their lead back out to seven points, TSU clawed back, cutting it to two – 75-73 with 1:37 remaining. A pair of Guinn free-throws put Tech back up by four, but Malone missed the first of a pair, then hit the second to make it a three-point game.
Grimes answered with 57 seconds remaining with a pullup jumper to go back up by five, but Ever Walker drew a foul from Peyton Carter. Walker hit both to make it a one-possession game once more at 79-76.
With 23 ticks left, Walker fouled Grimes, who hit both gimmes to give Tech an 81-76 advantage. Parker missed a 3-point try, forcing another foul to Guinn. The Tech senior swished both, icing the game.
Cole led TSU in rebounds with 10, missing a double-double with eight points.
Grimes had seven boards to lead Tech, while Guinn and Carter each had seven. Grimes also had a season-best six assists as she tried to flirt with a triple-double.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 44, LITTLE ROCK 33
CHARLESTON, Ill. - In a defensive battle Eastern Illinois was able to grind out a 44-33 win over Little Rock on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers stand alone on top of the Ohio Valley Conference standings at 6-0.
The Panthers limited the Trojans to single digit scoring in three of the four quarters including not allowing Little Rock to score for the opening six minutes of the fourth quarter.
EIU used a 12-0 run during that span as they improved to 14-3 overall (6-0 OVC). Macy McGlone scored six of her team-high 14 points during the pivotal run as she posted a double-double with 12 rebounds.
Little Rock fell to 8-9 overall, 5-1 in the OVC. Tia Harvey led the Trojans with 12 points. Jaiyah Harris-Smith pulled down 14 rebounds.
Both teams struggled shooting the ball, EIU shot 32 percent from the game following a 46 percent clip in the final quarter. Little Rock was held to 24 percent shooting.
Lariah Washington joined McGlone in double figures for the Panthers with 12 points.
The 6-0 start to an OVC season marks the second best conference start in school history for the Panthers who started the 2011-12 season at 11-0 in the OVC.
SIUE 74, LINDENWOOD 63
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE defeated visiting Lindenwood, 74-63, on Saturday afternoon. The Cougars improved to 3-3 in OVC action and 4-13 overall while the Lions fell to 0-6 in conference play and 1-16 overall.
The Cougars Ajula Thatha did not miss on Saturday as she scored 22 points and brought down 13 rebounds. She went a perfect 10-for-10 from the floor and made both of her free throw attempts on the night.
SIUE's Molly Sheehan added 17 points, going 11-for-12 from the line, to go with eight assists and two rebounds. Sofie Lowis also hit double-digits in points with 11 while bringing down four rebounds and dishing out four assists.
The Lions had four players reach double-digits in points with Devin Fuhring leading the way with 15 points. Emily Benzschawel had 13 points while Mary McGrath added 12. Alan Stiverson had 11 points, four rebounds and two steals.
UT MARTIN 63, SOUTHERN INDIANA 60
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team made all the right plays down the stretch this evening, overcoming a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to claim a 63-60 Ohio Valley Conference victory at Southern Indiana.
After scoring 33 points in the first three quarters, the Skyhawks outscored the host Screaming Eagles by a whopping 30-17 margin over the final 10 minutes of play. UT Martin shot a sizzling 87.5 percent (7-of-8) from the floor in the fourth period and added in 12 free throws in the last quarter alone.
The backcourt duo of Shae Littleford and Josie Storey were dynamic tonight for the Skyhawks, who improve to 7-10 overall and 3-3 in OVC play. Littleford tied a career-high with 21 points to go along with game-highs of four assists and four steals as she sank seven of her 14 field goal tries. A mere two days after dialing up a career-best scoring tally at Tennessee State, Storey went off for a new single-game high of 20 points – 17 of which came in the fourth quarter alone (3-for-3 from three-point range, 8-of-9 from the free throw line).
Southern Indiana (8-9, 2-4 OVC) placed four scorers in double figures, led by Vanessa Shafford’s 14 points. Meredith Raley added 12 points while Hannah Haithcock and Tori Handley each collected 10 points apiece for the Screaming Eagles, who shot 23.5 percent (4-of-17) from three-point land.
“This is one of the most improbable wins that I’ve ever seen,” UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said. “We almost had to end the game with four players because we’re only playing with seven and we had two girls foul out with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter. We shouldn’t have been in this game, teams are pressing us the whole time to wear us down. I’m extremely proud of this bunch – these girls will never forget this one.”
The Skyhawks came out hot, racing out to a 5-0 advantage only 55 seconds into the game. Seygan Robins beat the shot clock on the opening possession with a jumper in the lane before Storey canned a three-pointer from the left wing. Southern Indiana followed with 14 of the next 16 points en route to a 15-9 advantage through 10 minutes of play.
The Screaming Eagles accounted for the first seven points of the second quarter before a Diamond Cannon fast break layup at the 7:15 mark ended the run. Southern Indiana led by a 25-11 margin with 4:40 to go before the halftime break but UT Martin wrapped up the half on a 10-2 run over the final 2:38. Sydneey Boykin (left wing trey), Lexi Rubel (straightaway three-pointer and putback layup) and Littleford (pull-up jumper) each provided buckets during the Skyhawk surge, which made the score 27-21 at the intermission.
All seven UT Martin players scored in the opening half, led by Rubel’s five points. The Screaming Eagles were led by eight points out of Raley in first 20 minutes.
After Southern Indiana scored the first four points of the second half, the Skyhawks answered right back with five unanswered points – trimming their deficit to 31-26 following a pair of Littleford free throws at the 6:42 mark. The Screaming Eagles posted the next five points of the game to go back ahead by double figures. Littleford was responsible for each of UT Martin’s final six points of the quarter but Southern Indiana took a 43-33 lead into the final period.
The Skyhawks came charging back in the fourth quarter, erasing a 12-point deficit to lead by three points with under five minutes remaining. After the Screaming Eagles were responsible for the first two points of the period, UT Martin went on a 16-2 run. Storey knocked down three-pointers on back-to-back trips down the floor before a Littleford driving layup with 5:11 remaining pushed the Skyhawks ahead 49-47 – their first lead since the 7:03 mark of the first quarter. Storey then took over as the freshman out of Mountain View, Ark. unreeled UT Martin’s next 10 points to extend the Skyhawk advantage out to 59-52 with 1:55 to go. Southern Indiana got back within a single possession (62-60) with eight seconds left to play but UT Martin’s defense held strong on a potential game-tying shot right before the buzzer.