Ohio Valley Conference

MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State women's basketball team rallied from 11 points down midway into the second quarter but came up short against Bellarmine 76-70 Sunday afternoon in Johnson Arena.  

Sophomore guard Kate Novik led the way for the Morehead State (4-5) with 19 points on 8-13 shooting from the floor. Freshman Chrishawn Coleman added 14 on 6-12 shooting from the field, and red-shirt junior Alyssa Berry finished with a career-high 12. Redshirt freshman Michelle Ugwah was plagued by early foul trouble and finished with 10 points to go with five rebounds in only 19 minutes of play. 

With Ugwah sidelined with foul trouble, junior Kuryn Brunson filled in and just missed her second career double-double with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.  

Bellarmine (8-2) went to the first quarter break up 19-15 with junior guard Miyah Brown leading the way with nine points in the opening quarter. The Knights led by as many as eight points twice.  

The second quarter saw Bellarmine gradually pull away, through the early stages, culminating with Hope Sivori driving layup to make it 36-25 with 4:14 to go in the half. The Eagles chipped away and trailed at the intermission 40-34.  

Out of the intermission, Novik led the Eagles back. She opened the scoring with a three-point play off of a driving lay-in and free throw to trim the lead to 40-36. She pushed the Eagles to just their third lead of the game with another drive to make it 54-43. She capped the scoring and a MSU 12-2 with a three-pointer from the left wing to send the Eagles to the final frame up 57-53. 

The teams battled in the fourth quarter and a Coleman jumper capped an 8-0 MSU run to push the Eagles ahead 70-69, with 45 seconds to play. Bellarmine responded with a 7-0 run to close out the game.  

The Knights were led by Brown and Hayley Harrison with 16 points apiece. Ashlee Harris added 11 and Hope Sivori chipped in 10.

EVANSVILLE 87, SIUE 74
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -  Halle Smith hit a new career single-game high of 24 points against the Evansville Aces, but this came in a losing effort as Evansville defeated SIUE 87-74 Sunday afternoon at the Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
 
Smith is also the first to score more than 20 points in a game for the Cougars during the 2024-25 season. This also marks the third time Smith has had 20 or more points in a single-game during her career.
 
SIUE went to 1-7 with the loss while Evansville improved to 3-5.
 
The Cougars Started out strong with Brianna Wooldridge making a free throw to open scoring in the first quarter.
 
The Aces responded with a three pointer from Tamesha Dozier and a jumper from Julia Palomo giving the aces a four-point lead.
 
Kk Rodriguez made a three-point jumper with 7:21 left in the first quarter to help close the Aces lead making the game 8-6.
 
The Cougars evened the score at 20-20 in the first quarter after free throws from Smith and Rodriguez.
 
During the second quarter SIUE made efforts to close Evansville's lead before the break. Smith made two layups and a free throw in the final minute of the half, leaving the score at 30-38 before the break.
 
Evansville came out hot in the second half with Maggie Hartwig making a three with 8:22 left in the third.
 
The Cougars trailed the Aces, seeing a three-point jumper from Macey Silvey with 29 second left in the third quarter.
 
SIUE fought back in the fourth quarter with Kendal George and Rodriguez making layups off the start.
 
Emiyah Cobb broke the Aces 15-point lead making a three bringing the score to 73-62 with 3:46 left in the third quarter.
 
Smith made a final push at the end of the fourth making a layup and a free throw.
 
Brianna Wooldridge also scored in the double digits, putting up 10 points for SIUE and four rebounds. The Cougars led with 49 points off the bench, compared to the Ace's 10 points off the bench.

#18 OLE MISS 85, TENNESSEE STATE 38
OXFORD, Miss. - XaiOnna Whitfield led Tennessee State with 10 points, and Lyric Cole grabbed a team-best six rebounds, but Ole Miss secured an 85-38 victory in women's basketball Sunday afternoon to close out non-conference play.

Cole tacked on three points to her six-rebound game for the Tigers (4-6). Somah Kamara helped out with nine points and two steals.

Cole pulled down two offensive rebounds to lead an offense that racked up second chance opportunities for Tennessee State, grabbing 14 boards and turning them into seven second chance points.

Tennessee State struggled out of the gate, falling behind 23-8 at the end of the first quarter.

The Tigers continued to lose ground in the second quarter and faced a 44-19 halftime deficit.

Tennessee State's deficit continued to grow after halftime, and the Tigers faced a 64-31 disadvantage heading to the fourth quarter. Tennessee State played well near the basket, scoring six of its 12 points in the paint.

Tennessee State could not pull any closer in the fourth, losing by a final of 85-38. Tennessee State fired away from deep in the quarter, knocking down one shot to account for three of its seven point.

ARKANSAS 84, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 45
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball fell (1-6) to Arkansas (6-5) Sunday afternoon inside the Bud Walton Arena.

Zoe Best led the Redhawks in scoring with 13 points on 5 of 12 shooting (.41) and went 3-6 from three point land. Best als recorded two blocks to contribute on the defensive side.

Graduate Sophie Bussard scored 12 points (5-8) and hauled in three rebounds and dished out two assists. Kennedy Claybrooks led the team in rebounds with six. The Junior guard added three points to her stat sheet.

From the floor SEMO shot 17-63 (.269) and 10-26 from three (38.4). The Redhawks pulled down 29 total rebounds and tallied 12 assists.

Carly Keats led the way for AU with 19 points. The Razorbacks shot 42.4% (28-66) from the field and 28% from deep. SEMO only went to the charity strip once the whole game while Arkansas went 21-24 (.875) from the line.

Lexi McCully two stepped through the defense to open the scoring for the Redhawks. The first lead for SEMO (5-4) came after Claybrooks drove in and kicked it out to Best at the 6:15 mark. 

The Redhawks would then go 7-8 in the final four minutes to end the first quarter. At the first media timeout the Redhawks were on top 13-10 after back-to-back three point baskets from Claybrooks and McCully.

At the quarter Best was 2-2 from behind the arc and the Redhawks were up by ten.

Arkansas opened the second on an 11-0 scoring run in the first five minutes before the media timeout. At the half the Redhawks were down 25-41 to the Hogs. Best and Bussard led the way with eight points a piece.

SEMO out shot the Razorbacks from behind the arc making six of their eight (75%) but only shot 29% from the field compared to 41.2% by the Hogs.

Arkansas continued their strong defense on the Redhawks throughout the third. Southeast was outscored in the third 4-19.

SEMO opened up the final quarter with two kick out three's from Bussard and Best. At the final media the Redhawks had met their score from the previous two quarters.

The game featured six lead changes and Arkansas led the possession game with 27:53 compared to 10:28A.