TUESDAY'S SCORE
@Southeast Missouri 91, William Woods 62
@Tennessee Tech 69, Tennessee State 63
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 91, WILLIAM WOODS 62
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball (4-7) defeated William Woods (2-11), 91-62, at the Show Me Center, dominating the paint with 62 points and forcing 26 turnovers.
Southeast Missouri started strong with a 6–0 run, featuring layups by Lexi McCully and Zoey Rixter. William Woods responded with a pair of 3-pointers to shift momentum, taking a narrow lead. Ainaya Williams contributed defensively with three blocks, stifling the visitor's inside scoring. At the end of the first, the Owls led 20–18.
The Owls initiated the scoring with a 3-pointer from Mya Pflasterer. The Redhawks responded with a layup by Kearra Jones, assisted by McCully. Charmen Taylor scored back-to-back layups, briefly giving the Redhawks a lead. At halftime, the Redhawks led 50–36.
The Redhawks started strong with a 6–0 run, highlighted by Jones' layup and free throw combination. McCully contributed significantly with a steal and subsequent fast-break jumper at 5:52. Rixter's offensive rebounds led to second-chance points, including her own layup at 2:04. At the end of the quarter, the Redhawks held a commanding 68–48 lead.
Taylor's layup extended the home team's lead to 74–52 at 6:57. Rixter contributed with a fast-break layup, pushing the score to 76–52 at 6:16. Madison Ayers added two free throws at 1:56, increasing the margin to 84–59. Aa'Mya Stacker's layup with 24 seconds remaining sealed the win at 91–62.
TENNESSEE TECH 69, TENNESSEE STATE 63
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - No one ever said getting wins was pretty. The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team battled throughout Tuesday's 69-63 victory over Tennessee State, but the Golden Eagles prevailed to extend their home winning streak to 27 games and their Ohio Valley Conference regular-season winning streak to 18.
Tech (10-2, 3-0 OVC) wraps up December with a perfect 6-0 record and finishes the 2025 calendar year with a 29-4 record with two of the losses coming to South Carolina in the NCAA tournament and USC in November.
The Golden Eagles will ring in the New Year on Thursday with a 3 PM matinee at Little Rock. Tech continues the road trip the following week, taking on Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois in the directional matchups. The Golden Eagles return home on January 15, taking on Southern Indiana.
Defense was the name of the game on Tuesday night as the Golden Eagles forced the Lady Tigers into 28 turnovers. TSU (2-10, 0-3 OVC) had a good night shooting, draining 45.3 percent from the field and 13-for-20 from the free-throw line.
However, Tech was able to frustrate the Lady Tigers as TSU ended up with 14 fewer shot attempts and the Golden Eagles collected 15 steals.
LaReesha Cawthorn was a big part of that, pulling down seven rebounds with five steals and a block, forcing TSU to play big around her. In the process, Cawthorn was able to draw a team-best six fouls.
With both teams ebbing back and forth in the advantage with eight lead changes and 15 ties, Reagan Hurst gave the Golden Eagles a boost in the second half, scoring 10 of her team-best 14 points in the final 20 minutes. Hurst shot 6-for-14 overall with a pair of long-range buckets.
Reghan Grimes was close to a double-double as she scored 11 points and finished with eight boards, while Cawthorn also finished in double digits with 10 points. Cam Mathews and Amaya Redd both scored seven.
TSU finished the battle on the boards with a 43-38 advantage, but the Golden Eagles made the most of their 21 offensive rebounds, collecting 18 second-chance points. The Lady Tigers had 14 offensive ricochets for 11 second-chance points.
While Tech's shooting night saw the Golden Eagles hit 34.3 percent from the field, Tech hit just one fewer field goal than the Lady Tigers, going 23-for-67 from the floor. Tech also hit two more 3-pointers with four total, while also going 19-for-29 at the charity stripe compared to TSU's 13-for-20.
Xai Whitfield led the Lady Tigers with 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting, while Erin Martin had 15 points. Martin, Amiyah Ferguson and Kiki Roberts led TSU with seven rebounds each.
The first quarter ended in a 13-13 tie and Tech took a slim two-point lead into the intermission, leading 31-29. Tech won the third quarter 18-14 with both teams putting together brief runs -- 7-0 for the Lady Tigers, 6-0 for the Golden Eagles. Tech built its largest lead with 20 seconds remaining in the game, an eight-point advantage.