Ohio Valley Conference

MOREHEAD, Ky. - SIUE defeated Morehead State 83-75, led by KK Rodriguez in the Victory.
 
The Cougars improve to 5-21 overall and 3-14 in OVC play., while the Eagles fall to 8-19 overall and 3-14 in conference play.
 
Rodriguez put up 27 points, making this her second 20-point game of the season. She went 10-14 from the field and 4-5 from three-point range. She also grabbed five rebounds and dished out six assists.  Brianna Wooldridge led the team with eight rebounds and contributed two assists.
 
Macy Silvey and Ava Gugliuzza combined for 26 points. Silvey had 14 points going, 5-11 form the field and 4-9 from beyond the arc. She also grabbed two rebounds and recorded three assists. Gugliuzza had 12 points, going 4-10 from the field and 4-9 from three-point range.
 
The Cougars maintained the lead for most of the first quarter, but the Eagles tied the game 22-22 with 1:11remaining.
 
Silvey quickly regained the lead for SIUE, hitting a three-pointer.
 
In the second quarter, Gugliuzza hit a three-pointer that gave the Cougars a 13-point lead over MSU, making the score 47-37 with 2:03 left before halftime.
 
MSU came out of halftime with a 6-0 slowly closing the gap. Silvey broke the streak with a three-pointer making the game 52-47 with 6:16 left in the third.
 
Chrishawn Coleman was able to gain a brief lead for MSU (54-53,) but the Cougars regained control after Molly Sheehan made a fast break layup.  
 
SIUE maintained their lead for the remainder of the game, defeating the Eagles for the second time this season.

SOUTHERN INDIANA 66, EASTERN ILLINOIS 46
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball opened its final regular-season homestand Thursday night with a convincing 66-46 victory against Eastern Illinois University inside Liberty Arena, home of the Screaming Eagles.
 
Strong post play and team defense highlighted USI's path to its win on Thursday, which featured the Screaming Eagles' defense holding the Panthers to single digits in two quarters of play. With the win, Southern Indiana (19-9, 11-6 OVC) moved up into a tie for fourth place in the Ohio Valley Conference alongside the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Meanwhile, Eastern Illinois (16-10, 13-4 OVC) remained in the third position, only two games ahead of USI and Little Rock.
 
On Thursday, Southern Indiana jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead 2:30 into the contest, which included a pair of threes from graduate forward Meredith Raley and junior guard Ali Saunders. Eastern Illinois was forced to take an immediate timeout. The Screaming Eagles' lead grew to 10, 16-6, by the 3:15 mark of the first quarter after a layup by Raley. Saunders nailed her second triple of the game to push USI ahead 20-9 through the opening quarter.
 
The second period was more evenly contested. After a three-minute dry spell for USI in the first portion of the second, back-to-back baskets by graduate forward Madi Webb increased Southern Indiana's to 14, 26-12. Later in the quarter, Eastern Illinois closed in a little with two unanswered makes, but a three by sophomore guard Triniti Ralston halted any significant run from mounting. The Panthers scored twice in the 90 seconds of the first half, as USI carried a 32-21 lead into halftime.
 
The USI advantage remained around 11 in the early going of the second half. Senior guard Vanessa Shafford canned a pair of threes near the seven-minute mark of the third quarter to reach double figures for the game and place the Eagles in front by 14, 42-28. The two sides exchanged buckets down the stretch of the third period. Eastern Illinois cut USI's lead down to single digits by the end of the third, 51-42.
 
Southern Indiana controlled the fourth frame to pull away, orchestrating an 11-0 run over the first six and a half minutes of the quarter. Shafford scored five points during the run, while Raley added a couple of layups to also reach double digits in the game. By the end of the scoring run, the Screaming Eagles led by 20, 62-42. The scoring differential stayed at 20 by the final buzzer.
 
Southern Indiana shot an efficient 47.3 percent (26-55) from the floor and nearly 39 percent (7-18) from beyond the arc. USI went 7-10 at the foul line. The Eagles dominated the glass, 40-25, over the Panthers. Shafford led all scorers with 18 points on 7-11 shooting and 3-6 from three with seven rebounds. Raley tallied 11 points and six boards. Webb also finished in double figures with 10 points.
 
Eastern Illinois shot for under 37 percent (18-49) overall and was limited to 1-17 for six percent from three-point range. The Panthers were 9-14 for 64.3 percent at the free-throw stripe. Eight Panthers scored in the contest but all were held to single digits.

LINDENWOOD 60, LITTLE ROCK 51
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Lindenwood women's basketball (19-7, 15-2 OVC) get their 10th straight win as they defeat Little Rock (13-13, 11-6 OVC) on the road on Thursday night. Head coach Amy Eagan achieved another milestone in her incredible career picking up her 300th career victory.

The Lions were led by four-time Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week Brooke Coffey with 15 points on 6-10 shooting including three triples tying her career-high. Coffey was one of four Lions to have at least five rebounds (5) while playing in 31 minutes.

Mya Skoff was the other Lion to reach double-digit scoring after scoring 12 points on 4-11 shooting while going 3-4 at the foul line. Skoff did a little of everything for the Lions after grabbing five rebounds while adding two steals and one block. Lindenwood's 60 points tonight were the second lowest of the season during a win (57 vs. Eastern Illinois).

Ellie Brueggemann also had nine-point for the Lions after only taking seven shots (3-7 FG). Gracy Wernli had a career-high as a passer with four assists while also adding six points. LU assisted on 10 of their 22 made baskets.

After making three three-pointers in the first quarter, the Lions were held in check from deep making 5-21 for the game. Lindenwood shot a clean 44.0% from the floor (22-50 FG) while going 11-14 at the foul line. The Trojans were held to 38.6% from the floor while only attempting seven three-pointers (2-7 3FG).

The first quarter saw a tightly contested game that include two lead changes and three ties. Little Rock held the largest lead at five-points as they ended the first quarter with the lead at 15-13. LU shot 5-15 from the field including three three-pointers and were led by Coffey with eight points.

The Lions scored the first five-points of the second quarter to take the lead at 18-15 with Coffey's third three. Lindenwood stretched the lead to as much as seven in the second quarter as the Lions led at halftime 32-26. 

Both teams shot just above 40.0% in the first half while Little Rock scored all their points inside the three-point arc. Coffey led all scorers with 11 at the break. The Trojans did out-score Lindenwood in the first half 22-10 inside the paint.

With 6:49 left in the third quarter, the Trojans tied the game at 34-34 after a layup by Faith Lee. Lindenwood responded with a 4-0 run to regain their lead, but Little Rock would not go away as they enter the fourth quarter leading LR by a score of 41-38.

Little Rock was able to tie the game with 8:32 remaining in the fourth quarter at 43-43. Lindenwood's offense did not back down late in the game eventually stretching their lead out to six with under two to play. Brueggemann put the cherry on top with a three-pointer as the Lions closed out for the win 60-51. Lindenwood out-scored the Lions 19-13 in the fourth while shooting 53.8% from the field.

Lindenwood has now won 10 in a row continuing their longest active win streak in program history. The Lions are still tied for first in the conference after tonight's win at 15-2. Their 15 wins in conference play are also the most in program history (NCAA era).

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 51, WESTERN ILLINOIS 49
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Lexi McCully scored 15 points and made two game-winning free throws with 6.7 seconds to lead Southeast Missouri (5-21, 3-14) to a 51-49 victory over Western Illinois (13-13, 7-10) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.
 
WIU, which was once down by 22, battled back to tie the game at 49-49 when Reagan McCowan drove in for a layup with 17 seconds left.
 
McCully was then fouled and calmly made the decisive shots.
 
The Leathernecks had one last chance, but McGowan missed a layup and Mia Nicastro's second-chance jumper came off the rim as time expired.
 
SEMO, which never trailed in the game, ended a 13-game losing streak.
 
The Redhawks heated up to make their first six 3-pointers of the game and built a 24-2 lead in the opening 7:24 of the contest.
 
Zoe Best and McCully each buried two threes, while Skylar Barnes and Jariyah Williamson hit one each. Williamson's three capped the Redhawks 22-point surge with 2:36 remaining in the first quarter.
 
WIU, which missed its first 11 field goals, stopped its drought when McCowan scored on a stepback jumper with 2:03 left.
 
SEMO ended the first period ahead, 24-6, after shooting 53.3 percent (8-of-15) with all but two of its makes coming from downtown.
 
Addi Brownfield's layup cut the Redhawks lead to 28-15 with 4:21 left in the second quarter, but Sophie Bussard and Ainaya Williams answered with back-to-back baskets.
 
A driving layup by Brianna Hill gave SEMO another 17-point lead before the Redhawks headed into the intermission ahead, 34-19, for their largest halftime lead in Ohio Valley Conference play this year.
 
Both teams went scoreless for the first 3:21 of the third quarter.
 
Nicastro's made a second-chance layup and Mallory McDermott made a 3-pointer to cut SEMO's lead to 34-24 just ahead of a media timeout with 5:07 to go.
 
Williams' turnaround jumper snapped a stretch of eight-straight misses by the Redhawks with 4:39 left.
 
WIU went on to outscore SEMO, 12-2, and get within five at 36-31 after three quarters of play. The Redhawks were just 1-of-16 from the field in the third stanza.
 
The Leathernecks continued to chip away and narrowed SEMO's margin to 36-33 when Nicastro made a jumper with 9:30 remaining.
 
Nicastro made a layup, this time, to get WIU within a point at 45-44 with 4:19 to go.
 
Williamson, however, countered with a 3-pointer and SEMO later took a 49-44 lead on two free throws by Best at the 1:44 mark.
 
Addi Brownfield's 3-pointer dropped the Redhawks lead to 49-47 and WIU got the ball back after Sophie Bussard missed two free throws with 30 seconds left.
 
SEMO hung on despite being outscored, 30-17, in the second half.
 
McCully made all three of her field goals from 3-point range and did not miss a free throw going 6-of-6 at the charity stripe. She also had six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
 
Best followed with 14 points.
 
Nicastro led WIU with 14 points.

TENNESSEE TECH 70, UT MARTIN 55
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A strong second-half helped the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team pull away from UT Martin on Thursday night as the Golden Eagles took a 70-55 victory in the Eblen Center.
 
With the victory, the Golden Eagles (21-5, 15-2 Ohio Valley Conference) win their 12th straight game – the longest winning streak for the program since 2000-01 and tied for the fourth-longest streak in program history – as well as their 15th straight home contest.
 
Tech continues its first-place tie with Lindenwood, but got a little bit of breathing room as Southern Indiana defeated Eastern Illinois to put the Panthers two games back with three left to play in the regular season. USI and Little Rock are tied in fourth with UT Martin (9-9) standing in sixth, Western Illinois (7-10) in seventh and Tennessee State – Tech's Saturday opponent – in eighth at 4-13, one game ahead of Morehead State, SIUE and Southeast Missouri for the final spot in the tournament field.
 
Anaya Brown led UT Martin with 29 points – including 10-for-14 at the free-throw line – and completed the double-double with 10 rebounds. Brown had nearly half of the team's field goals as she was 9-for-23 out of the Skyhawks' 20-for-58 in the contest. Shae Littleford and Kenley McCarn each scored eight points for UTM (12-17 overall).
 
Peyton Carter set the pace for the Golden Eagles early on as she scored Tech's first 12 points as she went 4-for-4 from long range through the first five minutes of the game. The Golden Eagles led by as many as seven points with 4:17 points in the first stanza, but Tech went nearly nine minutes without a field goal, with the Skyhawks using an 8-0 run to take a 16-15 lead at 1:57.
 
UTM led by as many as eight points in the second quarter, taking a 28-23 lead at the intermission.
 
Tech was outscored in the paint 22-6 in the first half and was outrebounded 18-16.
 
The tide turned in the third quarter as the Golden Eagles scored seven unanswered points to knot the game at 30 as Reghan Grams completed a 3-point play at 6:49. Following a couple of lead swaps, Tech started to build an advantage, jumping out to a five-point lead before the game was tied once more at 38. Tech pushed back out by five once more before the third ended with the Golden Eagles outscoring UTM 22-12 in the period for a 45-40 lead.
 
Tech shot 8-for-14 from the field in the quarter as Reghan Grimes was 3-for-4 shooting and 3-for-3 at the line for nine points, while Chloe Larry was 3-for-3 for six points. In the quarter alone, the Golden Eagles pulled down 15 boards and scored 16 points in the paint to the Skyhawks' four as fouls started to mount against Brown.
 
The Golden Eagles extended the advantage out to 10 with just under eight minutes remaining in the game. Brown hit a pair of free throws with 7:25 left to get it back to single-digits, though that was short-lived as Amelia Pfeiffer sank a layup to get back to a 10-point advantage and the lead continued to inch out to a 15-point advantage three times in the final 90 seconds.
 
Keeley Carter had nine points as she drained three 3-pointers in the fourth to lead Tech to 25 points to the Skyhawks' 15.
 
In the second half, Tech shot 53.3 percent as it hit 16-for-30 from the field to UT Martin's 8-for-31.
 
While UTM still won in the paint, the margin was a lot closer with a 34-28 lead to the Skyhawks. Tech won the battle on the glass with 40 board to UTM's 34. The Golden Eagles also led on assists 20-8.
 
Larry led Tech with 17 points with six rebounds, five assists and a steal. Peyton Carter had 16 points with six rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block. Grimes had 14 points with six rebounds, six assists and three steals. Keeley Carter finished the game with 11 points with six rebounds, six assists and three steals.