SATURDAY'S SCORES
UT Martin 74, @Morehead State 60
Little Rock 62, @Lindenwood 50
Southern Indiana 67, @Tennessee State 61
Tennessee Tech 66, @Eastern Illinois 61
Southeast Missouri 88, @SIUE 72
UT MARTIN 74, MOREHEAD STATE 60
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The freshmen tandem of Anaya Brown and Sharnecce Currie-Jelks posted big afternoons as the University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team wrapped up the regular season portion of the 2023-23 schedule with a 74-60 road victory at Ohio Valley Conference foe Morehead State.
The Skyhawks finish the regular season with a 13-16 overall mark while going 9-9 in league play. With the victory, UT Martin clinched its 13th consecutive season in which the program has finished OVC action with at least a .500 winning percentage. The Skyhawks will now enter next week’s OVC Basketball Championship as the No. 5 seed with a rematch against No. 8 seed Morehead State on the docket for Wednesday afternoon.
UT Martin used a dominating first half to propel the squad to a road victory. The Skyhawks took a 10-point lead into the second quarter while building their lead out to as large as 26 points early in the third period. The squad shot 50 percent from the floor while dominating the paint where they scored 44 points.
The freshmen duo of Brown and Currie-Jelks played a big role in the team’s victory as they combined to outscore the Eagles in the first half before finishing the game with 39 combined points. Brown had a big game in her home state, as the Lexington, Ky. native scored a career-high 21 points while also adding nine rebounds to just miss out on a double-double. Currie-Jelks also maintained her hot stretch by tallying 18 points and eight rebounds in the win.
In addition to the strong play by the newcomers, graduate guard Paige Pipkin also reached double figures for the sixth straight game with 11 points while sophomore Shae Littleford added 10 points off the bench.
While UT Martin held a sizable lead, Morehead State (10-19, 6-12 OVC) fought back in the second half, trimming the margin to as close as nine points with 6:53 to play in the contest. After the deficit was cut to single digits, the Skyhawks pushed the margin back out to 16 points late in the fourth before coming away with the 14-point victory.
Morehead State had four players score in double figures in the matchup with Veronica Charles leading the squad with 18 points and nine rebounds. Sandra Lin ranked second on the team with 15 points while Valentina Saric (11) and Hallie Rhodes (10) also reached double-digits.
The two squads will meet again in the first round of the OVC Basketball Championship next week in Evansville, Ind. The contest which will feature the No. 5 and No. 8 seeds will be played on Wednesday, March 1 at 1 p.m.
LITTLE ROCK 62, LINDENWOOD 50
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - – Sali Kourouma showed why she’s the national leader in player defensive rating. Grabbing a career-high six steals and four defensive rebounds, Kourouma showed how effective she is defensively while also scoring a game-high 26 points as Little Rock coasted past Lindenwood, 64-50, to reach the 20-win threshold as the regular season came to a close on Saturday.
Little Rock (20-9, 17-1 Ohio Valley) forced 20 Lindenwood turnovers to reach 20 wins for the 13th time in the past 20 years as the OVC regular season champions put a tidy bow on the regular season, their first in the league.
The Trojans were effective from the floor, shooting nearly 53% while the host Lions (2-24, 1-17) held serve with Little Rock for three quarters.
Kourouma was an impressive 12 for 22 form the field, seemingly scoring at will against Lindenwood. She tallied 12 points before half and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Jaiyah Harris-Smith sliced and diced through the Lindenwood defense, grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds with five assists to her credit. She also added two steals. In all, the Trojans recorded 11 steals in the game with Tia Harvey adding a pair to go along with her 10 points while Hailey Hohenecker grabbing a steal and scoring two points.
Angelique Francis cruised to 15 points on 6 of 10 shooting with two rebounds and two assists. She was one of six Trojans to be credited with an assist in the game while Jayla Brooks, standing at an imposing 5-feet, 7-inches, recorded the only block of the game for the Trojans as she elevated to stuff the lanky 5-foot-9 Devin Fuhring.
Despite being stuffed by Brooks, Fuhring led the Lions with 17 points while Mary McGrath scored 12. The rest of the team, however, was just 8 of 27 (29%) from the field and scored just 31 points.
Little Rock had a balanced scoring effort, scoring 16 points in each of the four quarters. The Trojans had seven players contribute points in the contest.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 67, TENNESSEE STATE 61
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball captured a 67-61 road win at Tennessee State University on Saturday, bookending the first NCAA Division I season for the program with a victory.
Even though Saturday's game featured a game of runs, Southern Indiana always seemed to have an answer. The Screaming Eagles were poised, maintaining control of the game. USI's effort was rewarded with a win that sets the tone and stepping stone for the 2023-24 season.
A fast-paced tempo dictated the game early. Right out of the gates, junior guard Lexie Green (Indianapolis, Indiana) drove to the hoop for the game's first basket. Near the midway portion of the first quarter, USI found some solid rhythm. Sophomore guard Vanessa Shafford (Linton, Indiana) scored seven straight points for USI, tying the game at 11. With under four minutes left in the first, senior forward Hannah Haithcock (Washington Courthouse, Ohio) went on a roll for USI, scoring the next four points for the Screaming Eagles and finishing the quarter with a last-second basket. USI led 21-12 after one.
Defensively, USI created deflections that led to good opportunities in the other direction. An early second-quarter run for Tennessee State closed the gap down to three, but Southern Indiana responded. Around the halfway point of the second, senior forward Tara Robbe (Wildwood, Missouri) put together a few strong moves in the post to score multiple times. The aggressiveness by Robbe led to 12 first-half points for her, matching her season high before halftime. Southern Indiana went into the intermission ahead, 37-30.
Shafford buried a three-pointer out of halftime to give USI a 10-point lead, 40-30. In the middle of the third, the Tigers made a run to cut USI's lead down to four, but Shafford quickly answered with a triple to put USI back up by seven, 43-36. Tennessee State pulled within one, but a key bucket by Haithcock with just over a minute left in the third gave USI a 47-44 lead that USI carried into the fourth quarter.
Tennessee State started the fourth with a pair of free throws to get within one, 47-46. Once again, USI answered as Shafford and Green hit back-to-back jumpers to increase Southern Indiana's advantage to six, 52-46. Both teams went on nearly a three-minute scoreless drought in the middle of the fourth. The Tigers made another couple of pushes, but the Screaming Eagles had the response each time to maintain their lead. Ahead by three, 56-53, with two and a half minutes remaining, USI received a clutch three from senior guard Tori Handley (Jeffersonville, Indiana). Tennessee State made the game a three-point difference a couple of more times. Late free throws by Shafford and Green sealed the victory for Southern Indiana in the regular season finale.
Southern Indiana had four players in double figures on Saturday. Shafford led USI with 17 points on 6-10 shooting and 3-4 from three with six rebounds. Robbe poured in a season-high 14 points, going 6-12 from the floor, and grabbing seven rebounds. Haithcock also dropped 14 points with seven rebounds. Green finished with a career-high 13 points, shooting 3-4 from the field and 6-6 at the line. She also pulled down six boards. Handley dished out six assists in the game. USI was 25-56 for 44.6 percent overall, 5-11 for 45.5 percent from three, and a perfect 12-12 at the stripe. The Screaming Eagles outrebounded the Tigers 38-34 and outscored Tennessee State 34-24 in the paint.
Tennessee State (11-17, 7-11) was led by graduate guard Erica Haynes Overton with 20 points. Sophomore guard Gia Adams scored 14 points. Tennessee State went 21-61 for 34.4 percent in the game, 7-25 for 28 percent from beyond the arc, and 12-15 for 80 percent at the free-throw line.
TENNESSEE TECH 66, EASTERN ILLINOIS 61
CHARLESTON, Ill. - With the Tennessee Tech women’s basketball team trailing 57-52 with just over four minutes to play, the Golden Eagles weren’t worried. After all, they had already overcome that deficit already in the contest.
Jada Guinn turned it up down the stretch, scoring eight points in the final 10 minutes, including 4-for-4 from the free-throw line, as well as three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block as she helped guide the Golden Eagles back to a thrilling 66-61 victory over Eastern Illinois on Saturday.
With that, next week’s Ohio Valley Conference tournament in Evansville is set. Tech (19-9, 13-5 OVC) will face the winner of SIUE/Tennessee State on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The winner of that game will face No. 2-seed Eastern Illinois on Friday.
Guinn finished the game with 22 points on a 9-for-14 shooting day and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. She also had three assists, a steal and two blocks.
Anna Walker, who was missing from the Tech lineup in the meeting back in January, checked in with 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting, while pulling down eight boards and blocking three shots. Peyton Carter, starting for the second straight game, had 10 points on 3-for-7 from the floor with two 3-pointers, three rebounds and an
assist.
The Golden Eagles nearly outdid the Panthers (21-7, 13-4 OVC) in every category – outshooting 43.3 percent to 38.2, outrebounding 37 to 32, stealing six to five and blocking seven to two. Tech even scored more points on turnovers and outscored EIU in the paint 36-to-24.
One of the things EIU held the advantage on, however, was at the free-throw line, drawing 20 Tech fouls and shooting 15-for-19 at the charity stripe. The Golden Eagles were 9-for-14.
Macy McGlone led the Panthers with 15 points, while Lariah Washington had 13 points.
It was a back-and-forth affair through most of the contest as Tech took a 15-10 lead after the first quarter, then EIU outscored the Golden Eagles 17-14 as Tech led 29-27 at the intermission. Both teams scored 17 points in the third quarter, but a 12-0 run for the Golden Eagles overlapped the end of the third and the start of the fourth quarter as the Panthers went scoreless for almost six minutes.
With the run giving Tech a 50-44 lead, EIU charged back to knot the game at 52 with 6:26 remaining. Washington put the Panthers back up and Eastern collected a 9-0 run to go up 57-52. Ansley Hall and Carter had two big buckets to get back within one at 57-56 with 3:25 remaining in the contest.
Taris Thornton hit a pair of free throws to put the Panthers back up by three. Back on the other side of the court, a scramble for the loose ball gave the ball back to the Golden Eagles and Reghan Grimes was there for a layup to put Tech back within one at 59-58 and 1:56 remaining.
With 91 seconds left, Guinn hit a jumper to retake the lead, but EIU was back on top after McGlone hit two charity tosses. Tech retook the lead one last time as Guinn drilled a jumper with 38.7 seconds remaining.
On the other side, the Panthers missed the shot and Guinn came down with the board. It was an extended game of keep-away as Tech moved the ball into its offensive zone before a foul was called with 16 seconds remaining.
Carter was fouled again with 13.3 seconds left and she hit both tosses to extend the lead back out by three at 64-61. Miah Monahan put up a potential game-tying shot in the corner with five seconds left, but the ball missed and Guinn came down with the carom. Guinn was fouled once more, hitting both free shots to ice the game.
Macy McGlone led EIU with 15 points while Lariah Washington added 13.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 88, SIUE 72
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Southeast Missouri (15-14, 10-8 OVC) scored a season-high 51 first-half points in an 88-71 drubbing of SIU Edwardsville (8-21, 7-11 OVC) Saturday in the regular season finale for both teams.
SEMO, which is the #4 seed in next week's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, will face the winner of #5 UT Martin and #8 Morehead State in the quarterfinals on Mar. 2. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m., CT at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
The Redhawks led by as many as 28 with 8:19 remaining in the third quarter and was ahead for 35:51 minutes of the game en route to their sixth-straight win.
Four Redhawks scored double figures led by guard Rahmena Henderson who had a team-high 20 points. Jaliyah Green finished with 19, while Kiyley Flowers and Halle Smith had 17 and 16, respectively.
SEMO's defense forced 23 SIUE turnovers and converted them into 32 points. The Redhawks scored 34 points off the fastbreak alone.
The Redhawks scored 12 of their fastbreak points in the first quarter with Green getting two steals and Flowers collecting one help give SEMO a 26-23 lead at the end of the first.
In the second quarter, SEMO exploded for 25 points and limited the Cougars to only four points in a dominating second quarter. The Redhawks closed out that period on a 22-0 run and never let up after that.
The four points marked a season-low allowed by SEMO's defense in any quarter this season. SIUE missed 21 field goals in the second quarter.
Henderson (13), Green (15) and Flowers (10) were all in double figures in the scoring column by halftime. SEMO shot a scorching 56.7 percent from the field in the game's opening 20 minutes.
Henderson buried a corner 3-pointer to give SEMO its largest lead of the afternoon at 44-27.
The Redhawks continued to pick apart the Cougars in the second half. Flowers' pullup jumper widened SEMO's lead to 53-27 and SIUE never recovered.
SIUE's Ajulu Thatha led the team with 21 points and 11 rebounds. She also had three assists and three steals. Sofia Lowis had 12 points while Molly Sheehan and Macy Silvey each had 11 points.