THURSDAY'S SCORES
Little Rock 61, @SIUE 38
Tennessee Tech 78, @Southern Indiana 57
@UT Martin 75, Tennessee State 59
Southeast Missouri 67, @Lindenwood 62
LITTLE ROCK 61, SIUE 38
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Little Rock defeated SIUE 61-38 to win its first outright OVC regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming tournament.
Sali Kourouma led the Trojans with 21 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Jayla Brooks added 18 points, five boards, six assists and four steals. Tia Harvey put up 16 points.
SIUE's Ajulu Thatha notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
TENNESSEE TECH 78, SOUTHERN INDIANA 57
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Tennessee Tech surged out to a big lead and never looked back on Thursday night as Maaliya Owens and Peyton Carter had big nights to lead the Golden Eagles to a 78-57 victory over Southern Indiana.
Tech improved to 18-9 with one game remaining in the regular season, 12-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Owens needed just one 3-pointer to tie Dana (Bilyeu) McWilliams for the senior record of 74 set back in 1992-93, but she tied it on her first shot, then broke it on her second 3-pointer of the quarter. She ended the night with six 3-pointers – just a shade short of her nine 3-pointer effort in the previous meeting against the Screaming Eagles – which also puts her seven 3-pointers away of tying Allison Clark and Blair Bowens’ single-season 3-point record at 86 each.
Owens scored 28 points – one away from tying her career-high set just a couple weeks ago against USI – as she drained 10 of her 18 shots, including 6-for-12 from 3-point range and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe.
Carter tied her career high with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting, hitting four 3-pointers. She also pulled down five boards, three assists and three steals.
The Golden Eagles were able to turn 23 turnovers into 31 points with 15 steals, including four each for Reghan Grimes and Ansley Hall. Tech also had 15 assists to USI’s five.
Vanessa Shafford led Southern Indiana (11-17, 5-12 OVC) with a double-double with 21 points – including four 3-pointers – and 11 rebounds. Hannah Haithcock also scored in double digits with 10 points.
USI did outrebound the Golden Eagles 35-28 and 12-to-9 on the offensive glass, then outscored Tech 26-to-18 in the paint, but with the Golden Eagles shooting 47.4 percent for the night, Tech was able to survive any rally attempt.
After outscoring the Screaming Eagles 23-8 in the opening salvo – including a 12-0 run – Tech extended its lead by outscoring USI 17-12 in the second and 23-17 in the third. Tech led by 31 midway through the third quarter, but Southern Indiana was only able to close in by 18 before time expired in the contest.
UT MARTIN 75, TENNESSEE STATE 59
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Tennessee State women's basketball team out-rebounded the UT Martin Skyhawks 30-24, but fell 75-59 on the road Thursday.
UT Martin was led by Sharnecca Currie-Jelks with 27 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals. Shae Littleford came off the bench to scored 20 points while Paige Pipkin added 17 points.
The Lady Tigers (11-16, 6-10) had three players score in double figures, led by Gia Adams, who had 14 points. Erica Haynes-Overton added 12 points and three steals and Kianni Westbrook chipped in as well with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Tennessee State pulled down 30 rebounds in Thursday's game compared to UT Martin's 24, led by Westbrook's eight boards. The Lady Tigers also cleaned up the offensive glass, turning 13 rebounds into 11 second-chance points.
Tennessee State forced 20 UT Martin turnovers. The Lady Tigers turned those takeaways into 16 points on the offensive end of the floor. Haynes-Overton's three steals led the way for Tennessee State.
Tennessee State struggled out of the gate, falling behind 17-11 at the end of the first quarter.
UT Martin kept adding to that lead, building a 22-15 advantage before Tennessee State went on a 6-0 run, highlighted by a bucket from Lyric Cole, to narrow its deficit to 22-21. UT Martin responded and expanded its lead, leaving the Lady Tigers trailing 34-28 heading into halftime.
UT Martin continued to increase its lead after halftime, building a 47-30 advantage before Tennessee State went on a 7-0 run, punctuated by a basket from Adams, to trim its deficit to 47-37 with 3:55 to go in the third. UT Martin countered and stretched its lead to 58-37 heading into the fourth. Tennessee State took advantage of two UT Martin turnovers in the quarter, scoring three points off of takeaways.
Tennessee State narrowed its deficit in the fourth quarter, but could not get over the hump, losing 75-59. Tennessee State pulled down six offensive rebounds to score five second chance points out of 22 total in the period
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 67, LINDENWOOD 62
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (14-14, 9-8) claimed the #4 seed in next week's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a 67-62 win over Lindenwood (2-22, 1-15) Thursday night at Hyland Arena.
SEMO is heading to the eight-team OVC Tournament for the seventh time in eight years under Head Coach Rekha Patterson. The Redhawks will face the winner of the #5 and #8 seeds in the quarterfinals on Mar. 2. Tip is set for 1 p.m., CT at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The remainder of the tournament seeding will be determined after Saturday's action.
Sophie Bussard and Jaliyah Green each scored 18 points, and Kennedi Watkins added 12 leading SEMO to its fifth-straight victory.
The Redhawks held their largest lead of the night when they were up, 48-35, with five minutes left to play in the third quarter.
LU managed to cut SEMO's lead to two (53-51) to tightening things up on Mary McGrath's free throws with 7:30 to go.
Bussard answered with a layup and Jaliyah Green followed with two free throws to get the Redhawks a six-point advantage.
After a Makayla Wallace layup made it a one-point game at 57-56 with 3:42 left, Green and Watkins each scored layups of their own.
SEMO then made six free throws in the final 35 seconds to put its 14th win of the season on ice.
The Redhawks held a 38-32 halftime lead before running their led to double figures in the third quarter.
Bussard made a near-perfect 7-of-8 field goals and 4-of-6 free throws, while Green shot 8-of-12 at the free throw line to go along with her five field goals. Watkins paved the way with eight rebounds and shot 5-of-12 from the floor. Meanwhile, Kiyley Flowers dished out seven assists.
SEMO shot 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the field and made 15-of-25 free throws. The Redhawks forced 21 turnovers, as well.
Makayla Wallace led the Lions with 19 points while McGrath added 14 and Devin Fuhring had 12. McGrath added 12 boards for the double-double.