Ohio Valley Conference

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball was dealt a 75-51 loss by No. 17 University of Louisville on Friday night in Louisville, Kentucky, as the Screaming Eagles faced their first top-25 opponent as a Division I program to open their 2024-25 road schedule. Both teams moved to 1-1 on the season following Friday's contest.
 
Southern Indiana came out from the opening tip with good looks on the offensive end. Junior guard Ali Saunders scored USI's first five points in the opening quarter, including a triple three minutes into the game that had USI within two, 7-5. In the middle of the first, the Screaming Eagles kept it within one possession thanks to five made free throws by graduate forward Meredith Raley. Southern Indiana took its first lead, 13-12, with 3:30 left in the first on a three-pointer by senior guard Vanessa Shafford. The Eagles led 21-17 with under a minute left in the first, but Louisville closed the quarter with a 5-0 run to lead by one going into the second quarter.
 
The Cardinals built onto their lead with a 15-0 run to start the second period, intensifying their full-court defense and forcing turnovers. Trailing 40-21, it took six minutes before Southern Indiana snapped the drought with two unanswered baskets from sophomore forward Amiyah Buchanan and Saunders. The Eagles then turned up their defense and produced stops, holding Louisville scoreless for nearly four minutes until the Cardinals hit a three with 17 seconds left in the first half. Louisville forced USI into 11 second-quarter turnovers and held USI to only four points in the frame, leading to a 43-25 advantage for the Cardinals at halftime.
 
Coming out of the locker room, Louisville picked up where it left off in the second quarter by organizing a 10-0 run early in the third quarter. Raley converted a strong layup for Southern Indiana's first points of the second half near the halfway point of the third stanza. Later, freshman guard Lexi Sepulveda provided a boost off the Southern Indiana bench, scoring a pair of layups in the last four minutes of the third. However, the Cardinals had stretched their lead to 62-36 heading to the fourth quarter.
 
After Louisville pushed its lead further early in the fourth quarter, Southern Indiana received two layups from post players in Raley and Buchanan. The Cardinals extended their lead to as high as 33 in the fourth, but the Screaming Eagles kept fighting down the stretch. Sepulveda scored twice on fast-break opportunities, and USI's defense battled late with a couple of steals and taking a charge. Five unanswered points by sophomore guard Triniti Ralston in the last 40 seconds brought the Eagles to within 24, 75-51, before the final buzzer.
 
Southern Indiana shot 38 percent (21-56) for the game with three triples (3-15). USI went 6-12 at the charity stripe. The Eagles finished with 20 turnovers but also forced Louisville into 19 turnovers. Saunders paced USI and tied a game-high with 15 points on 7-15 shooting with four rebounds and three assists. Raley notched 10 points and four boards.
 
Louisville finished the game at 45 percent (29-64) from the floor with eight made threes (8-25). The Cardinals were also 50 percent (9-18) at the free-throw line. Louisville won the rebounding battle, 45-31. Graduate forward Olivia Cochran matched a game-high 15 points, and freshman guard Tajianna Roberts tallied 11 points.

TENNESSEE STATE 66, EASTERN KENTUCKY 48
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Tennessee State women's basketball team kept Eastern Kentucky to just 28 percent from field on the way to a 66-48 win over the Colonels on Friday evening.

The Tigers (2-0) had two players score in double figures, led by Sanaa' St. Andre, who had 16 points, four assists and two steals. Lyric Cole tacked on a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Saniah Parker added nine points, four assists and two steals.

Tennessee State did a great job crashing the offensive glass, pulling down 11 boards that resulted in 13 second chance points.

The Tennessee State defense held Eastern Kentucky shooters to only 12.5 percent from three-point range. The Tigers also kept Kaitlyn Costner to 3-of-15 shooting and seven points in the game.

After jumping out to a 10-7 advantage, Tennessee State went on a 7-0 run with 3:39 left in the first quarter, culminating in a three from Angel Hill, to increase its lead to 17-7. The Tigers then added one point to that lead by the end of the period and entered the quarter break with a 19-8 advantage. Tennessee State capitalized on four Eastern Kentucky turnovers in the period, turning them into six points on the other end of the floor.

Tennessee State built that first quarter lead to 24-10 before going on a 7-0 run starting at the 6:54 mark in the second period, highlighted by a three from Parker, to increase its lead to 31-10. The Tigers proceeded to tack on four points to that lead and enjoyed a 39-14 advantage heading into halftime. Tennessee State was strong from deep in the period, knocking down four three-point shots to account for 12 of its 20 points.

Tennessee State continued to preserve its halftime lead before going on a 5-0 run, punctuated by a three from Somah Kamara, to expand its lead further to 46-21 with 1:38 to go in the third. Before the conclusion of the third period, the Colonels had cut into that lead somewhat, but the Tigers still entered the fourth quarter with a 49-25 edge. Tennessee State knocked down two three-pointers in the quarter to score six of its 10 total points.

The Tigers then held on for the victory in the fourth quarter. Tennessee State took advantage of four Eastern Kentucky turnovers in the quarter, scoring five points off of those takeaways.

NORTH DAKOTA 66, EASTERN ILLINOIS 63
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Free throws were a large part of the story on Friday night as North Dakota hit 11-of-13 in the fourth quarter to hold Eastern Illinois, 66-63, in the season opener for both teams at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, ND.

With the game tied at the half, North Dakota took a five-point lead into the fourth quarter leading 49-44.

The Panthers took a late lead with Macy McGlone knocking down a jumper with 3:05 remaining to put EIU up 59-58.  Last year's OVC Player of the Year, who ranked second in the NCAA in double-doubles, picked up where she left off last season with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Walker Demers answered for UND with a three-point play putting the Fighting Hawks up 61-59 with 2:43 left in the contest.  Demers finished with 16 points, one of three UND players in double figures.

The made free throw to finish off the three point play was part of a stretch over the final three minutes where UND made six of seven at the charity stripe to hang on for the win. 

EIU tied the game one final time at 63-63 with 35-seconds left as Ella Lune picked up a steal and converted a lay-up. 

The Panthers fouled on the next possession with Demers stepping to the line to knock down two free throws with nine seconds remaining.  EIU missed a final look with two seconds left in the game with UND making 1-of-2 at the free throw line with one second left to ice the game.  UND was 24-of-33 from the free line for the night including 11-of-13 in the fourth quarter.

Lalani Ellis joined McGlone in double figures with 12 points while Adriana Arroyo added nine points.  Arroyo knocked down three of the Panthers four 3-pointers in the game as EIU shot 4-of-17 from behind the arc.

Kiera Pemberton led UND with 21 points with Jocelyn Schiller scoring 12.