Ohio Valley Conference

MARTIN, Tenn. - After a four-game road trip, the University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team returned home to the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center Sunday and picked up a win over Arkansas State, 82-71.

The first half went back and forth with Arkansas State going on a 5-0 run in the last 34 seconds of the second quarter to take a 33-29 lead into the locker room at the break. However, the second half belonged to the Skyhawks, as they outscored the Red Wolves, 53-38, over the final two quarters of the game.

UT Martin shot 60.0-percent from the floor and 50.-percent from 3-point range in the second half, to finish the game with a season-high 54.5 field goal percentage and a 3-point percentage of 47.4-percent.

The Skyhawks were also solid at the free throw line, where they went 13-for-15 for 86.7-percent, their highest percentage of the season on at least 10 attempts. Kenley McCarn made both of her free throw attempts in the game to improve to a perfect 15-for-15 on the season and extend her streak of consecutive made free throws to 19, dating back to last season.

Shae Littleford led UT Martin Sunday with a season-high 27 points, going 11-for-14 from the field and 4-for-6 from beyond the arc, as well as tallying a game-high five steals. Anaya Brown was next in line for the Skyhawks with 17 points, while Daejah Richmond led her team with a career-high eights assists, to go along with six points.

Both Kenley McCarn and Lexi Rubel flirted with double-doubles in the game. McCarn notched 10 points and eight assists, while Rubel had eight points and a game-high eight rebounds.

ILLINOIS 73, SOUTHERN INDIANA 50
CHAMPAIGNE, Ill. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball concluded its non-conference season with a 73-50 setback against the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois on Sunday afternoon.
 
Sunday's result moved Southern Indiana's record to 8-3 with the beginning of Ohio Valley Conference play looming later this week. The loss was USI's third against a major-conference team and second against a Big Ten Conference school this season. Illinois, who had received votes in the latest AP Top-25 poll and was ranked No. 25 in the latest coaches poll, improved to 9-2 on the campaign.
 
In a defensive battle to start the contest, senior guard Vanessa Shafford got Southern Indiana on the board with a three-pointer to answer an early three by Illinois. A 9-7 lead for the Fighting Illini with two and a half minutes left in the first quarter flipped into USI's favor thanks to six forced turnovers and a 6-0 run to give the Screaming Eagles a 13-9 lead after 10 minutes of action.
 
Despite USI's solid second-quarter defense, Illinois utilized three triples and held Southern Indiana scoreless for nearly nine minutes. This difference led to a 24-13 advantage for the Illini. Sophomore guard Sophia Loden and graduate forward Meredith Raley ended the Eagles' scoreless drought in the last minute of the first half. However, Illinois went into halftime ahead 28-17.
 
Out of the break, Raley tallied back-to-back baskets to pull Southern Indiana within nine, 30-21. Illinois later responded with a 12-0 run over three minutes to go up 44-23. Junior guard Ali Saunders snapped the run draining a trey with three minutes left in the third quarter. A jumper from Raley in the last minute of the third put the forward into double figures for the game, as Illinois led 52-32 after three periods of play.
 
Southern Indiana began the fourth quarter with five fast points to draw back to within 15, 52-37, forcing Illinois to take a quick timeout. USI drew closer thanks to a three-pointer and a jumper from Shafford, and then a fast-break layup from sophomore guard Triniti Ralston brought the Eagles to within 10, 56-46, with a little over five minutes remaining. However, a pair of three-point plays and a 9-0 run over the last 2:30 of the game helped the Illini to close out the game.
 
The Screaming Eagles were 19-52 for nearly 37 percent from the floor and 7-13 for over 53 percent from beyond the arc. USI was 5-10 at the foul line. Raley led Southern Indiana with 13 points while Shafford added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Illinois shot for nearly 42 percent overall (25-60) and hit 33 percent from three-point range (7-21). The Illini went 16-18 for nearly 89 percent at the free-throw stripe. Illinois outrebounded USI 44-26. Fifth-year forward Kendall Bostic posted her seventh double-double of the season with 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Illini. Freshman forward Berry Wallace had a game-high 18 points.

MOREHEAD STATE 120, IU-COLUMBUS 46
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State women's basketball team ended the non-conference portion of their schedule with a dominating 120-46 victory over IU Columbus Sunday in Ellis T. Johnson Arena.   

Freshman Maia Rosarion dropped a career-high 16 points to lead the way for Morehead State. The Vancouver, Canada native went 7-8 from the floor, making her only three-pointer and was 1-1 from the free throw line. 

Morehead State (5-5) also had two other players post career highs, with Aaliyah Holmes scoring 15 points and Katie Dike finishing with 14. Holmes went 6-8 from the floor and 3-5 from three-point range. Dike's afternoon was very efficient: she was 5-5 from the field and 4-6 from the free throw line.  

Sophomore Kate Novik finished with 10 points and also tallied five steals.  

Morehead State never trailed in the game.  The Eagles outscored the Knights 33-7 in the opening quarter and led 63-22 at the intermission. For the half MSU shot 21-34 (62%) from the field and made 17-23 from the free throw line. The Eagle defense forced 25 IUC turnovers.  

After the intermission, the Eagles continued to pour it on, outscoring the Crimson Pride 25-9 in the third period, and 32-15 in the final frame. 

IU Columbus (2-9) was led by Freshman Gwen Higdon with 14 points.  

Morehead State's 120 points just missed the program record of 121 points in a game. The Eagles beat Alice Lloyd 121-56 on November 20, 2018 and downed Kentucky Christian 121-91 on November 14, 2015. MSU beat Brescia (Ky.) 120-41 on November 15, 2017.

SIUE 71, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 59
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE women's basketball dominates Carbondale Sunday night at First Community Arena, as they wrapped up its nonconference schedule.
 
SIUE improves to 2-6, while Carbondale falls to 2-7.
 
Five SIUE players scored in double figures, led by Macy Silvey who scored 15 points, on five three-pointers, both single-season highs for her. Ava Stoller followed with 14 points. She was 5-10 overall with most of her points coming in the first half. KK Rodriguez and Ava Gugliuzza scored 12 points apiece. While molly Sheehan had 11 points. She was 4-8 overall and 3-7 from the three-point range.  
 
The Cougars connected on 40 percent (25-63) shots from the field, making 15-36 of their shots from the field.
 
Silvey banked a three-pointer in the last 14 seconds of the first half putting SIUE in the lead 37-32 before the break.
 
The Cougars took a 14-point off a Silvey fast break three-pointer with 3:37 of play left in the final quarter.
 
As a team the Cougars had 25 fast break points, while holding the Saluki's to zero fast break points. The Cougars also led in points off the bench with 25, good for first in the OVC.
 
Gift Uchenna scored 17 points to lead Carbondale. The Salukis were only able to make 31 percent (20-65) of their shots from the field. The Salukis were 7-19 from the three-point range (37 percent).

#18 IOWA STATE 87, EASTERN ILLINOIS 55
AMES, Iowa - The Eastern Illinois women's basketball team (3-6, OVC 0-0) fell short 87-55 to No. 18 Iowa State (9-3, Big 12 0-0) on Sunday evening in Ames, Iowa at Hilton Coliseum. This moves the all-time series lead to 4-0 in favor of the Cyclones.

Iowa State jumped out to an early first-quarter lead, connecting on a pair of three-pointers that caused a quick Panther timeout. EIU would respond quickly, holding the Cyclones to a three-and-a-half-minute scoring drought to shrink the Iowa State lead to just two. The Cyclones finished the period on a 9-0 run as the contest headed into the first break in favor 23-12 in favor of Iowa State.

Sydney-James Desroches and Alex Rouse led EIU in the second quarter. Desroches knocked down two of her five attempts from downtown while Rouse shot 100 percent from the field on three attempts.The Panthers ended the first half on a 6-0 run to cut the Cyclone lead to 38-29.

The second half remained a battle as the Panthers were able to crawl within eight points before an Iowa State three-pointer pushed the lead to 11 before the media timeout. The Panthers would hit a roadblock late in the third quarter, as Macy McGlone picked up her fifth foul with 1:55 remaining.

The Cyclones controlled the majority of the fourth quarter, holding EIU to 2-14 shooting as the Panthers would come up short 87-55 Macy McGlone ended the contest as the Panther's leading scorer, logging 14 points to move into 23rd place in the EIU all-time leading scorers record. McGlone also brought down eight rebounds, marking her 678th career rebound as she moves into 9th place all-time in school history.

Desroches recorded her career-high 12 points in 25 minutes of action as Rouse finished the evening shooting 50 percent from the field and recorded her EIU career-high of 13 points.