Ohio Valley Conference

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State women's basketball team rallied from an 11-point deficit at 40-29 with 5:32 left in the third quarter to knock off the Western Illinois Leathernecks 70-66 at home Thursday

The Tigers (7-16, 3-10 OVC) had three players score in double figures, led by Saniah Parker, who had 18 points, six assists, four steals and two blocks. Somah Kamara tacked on 17 points and Lyric Cole chipped in as well with a double-double off of the bench with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Kiki Roberts pulled down six offensive rebounds to pace an offense that racked up second chance opportunities for Tennessee State, grabbing 14 boards and turning them into 11 second chance points.

Tennessee State did a great job disrupting Western Illinois shots in the contest, coming away with six blocks. Parker's two rejections led the way individually for the Tigers.

Tennessee State struggled out of the gate, falling behind 15-8 at the end of the first quarter.

The Tigers continued to lose ground in the second quarter and faced a 30-16 halftime deficit.

Western Illinois continued to increase its lead after halftime, building a 40-25 advantage before Tennessee State went on an 8-0 run, punctuated by a basket from Cole, to trim its deficit to 40-33 with 3:45 to go in the third. The Tigers continued to reduce the Western Illinois lead, shrinking it to 48-46 by the end of the third quarter. Tennessee State played well near the basket, scoring 24 of its 30 points in the paint.

Tennessee State then came back to even it up at 63-63 before going on a 6-0 run to seize a 69-63 lead with 34 seconds to go in the contest. The Leathernecks narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Tigers still held on for the 70-66 win. Tennessee State took advantage of six Western Illinois turnovers in the quarter, scoring six points off of those takeaways.

MOREHEAD STATE 63, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 57
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State's women's basketball overcame a cold shooting night to prevail over Southeast Missouri 63-57 Thursday night in Johnson Arena.  

Morehead State (8-15/3-10 OVC) shot just 15-59 (25%) but dominated Southeast Missouri (4-18/2-11 OVC) on the glass, outrebounding the Redhawks 48-36 including gathering 22 offensive rebounds leading to a 17-7 advantage in second-chance points.  

The Eagles were led in scoring by Chrishawn Coleman with 22 points, her fourth game of the season scoring over 20 points. The freshman from Arlington, Tex., got off to a fast start with 10 points in the opening quarter.  

Kuryn Brunson added 11 points, matching her career high. Sophomore Kate Novik, returning from missing six straight games, added nine points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. Katie Dike pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds.  

MSU only shot 5-19 in the opening frame but got eight offensive rebounds leading to a 7-0 advantage in second chance points and took a 20-14 lead into the second quarter.  

Both teams struggled on the offensive end in the second quarter, combining for only six made field goals between them. The Eagles outscored the Redhawks 11-9 in the quarter and took a 31-23 lead into the half.  

Southeast Missouri held the Eagles to just three field goals in the third quarter, outscoring MSU 18-15 and the Eagles led 46-41 heading into the fourth quarter.  

The Eagles used timely free throw shooting in the fourth quarter going 9-13 to seal the win.  

SEMO was led by Zoe Best and Lexi McCully with 16 points each. Ainaya Williams added 10.

LINDENWOOD 62, UT MARTIN 59
MARTIN, Tenn. - Lindenwood women's basketball (15-7, 11-2 OVC) battled defensively to a 62-59 victory over UT Martin (9-15, 6-7 OVC) on Thursday in Martin, Tenn. The Lions have won nine out of their last 10 games including six in a row, and have won back-to-back games after scoring below 65 points.

Brooke Coffey posted her fourth double-double of the season and second against UT Martin after scoring 16 points on 6-11 shooting while grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds. Coffey shot 3-6 from three-point range while adding a team-high five assists. She also had three of Lindenwood's four blocks.

Ellie Brueggemann tied Coffey for the lead in points with 16 of her own after shooting 6-14 from the field while going a perfect 3-3 at the foul line. Brueggemann would also add three rebounds and three assists. Lindenwood posted 15 assists on their 24 made field-goals.

Mya Skoff was the Lions' third leading scorer after posting 13 points including nine in the third quarter. Skoff shot 5-6 from the floor while adding another three rebounds. Lindenwood out-rebounded the Skyhawks 43-30 including 37 defensive rebounds.

It was a defensive battle in Martin, Tenn. including in the first half. Lindenwood finished the game shooting 24-55 from the field (43.6%) and 5-19 from three. UT Martin was held to 19-59 shooting (32.2%) from the field which marked their second lowest against an Ohio Valley Conference opponent this season.

Lindenwood out-scored the Skyhawks 32-22 in points in the paint while also adding 13 fast break points. UT Martin did turn Lindenwood over 18 times on Thursday resulting in 16 points. LU created nine turnovers while adding nine points off those.

It was a low-scoring affair in the first quarter as the Lions led 10-7 after the first 10 minutes of the ball game. Lindenwood jumped out to a 10-4 lead after back-to-back threes from Coffey with 6:03 remaining but it was scoreless the rest of the way. LU started 4-6 from the floor but ended the quarter shooting 0-9.

The first made shot by either team did not come until the 7:36 when Anaya Brown scored for UT Martin. The Skyhawks wound up with their first lead with just over two minutes to play in the first half at 17-16 but LU ended the quarter on a 6-1 run as they went into halftime leading 23-28.

Coffey was tied for the game-high at halftime with eight first half points and Brueggemann added six. Lindenwood shot 33.3% from the floor in the first half while UT Martin shot 16.0% from the floor. LU out-rebounded the Skyhawks 25-17 in the first half.

Going into the third quarter, Lindenwood held leads up seven, eight and nine points all through the first five minutes of the quarter before getting their first double-digit lead of the game after a free throw by Skoff with 5:01 left in the third. UTM got as close as two points, but LU took a four point lead into the final quarter at 43-39.

Lindenwood opened up on a 5-0 to start the quarter to go up 48-39, but UT Martin closed it back to three points with 7:03 remaining. It was a back-and-forth game the rest of the way, but Brueggemann made the play of the game with a block on one end and an and-one on the other with 1:32 remaining to put LU up seven points. Martin scored with one second left, but it was too late as the Lions were able to capture their 11th OVC victory of the season.

LITTLE ROCK 75, SOUTHERN INDIANA 61
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Little Rock women's basketball team came out with a 75-61 win at Southern Indiana, thanks to an outstanding shooting performance by graduate guard Sug Williams. Williams set a career high with 21 points, shooting 8-of-10 from the floor with five made free throws.
 
Jordan Holman contributed 20 points with eight rebounds. Jayla Brooks shot 6-of-9 from the field, 4-of-5 from the three, ending the night with 16 points. 
 
It was a tight game going into the final quarter, with Little Rock leading 47-43. Little Rock's lead was extended to 10 at the 6:19 mark with an assist by Brooks to Holman for the layup.
 
The Screaming Eagles didn't lay down, cutting the lead back to just five points with a series of layups and free throws by Ali Saunders and Chloe Gannon, respectively, with 4:07 on the clock.
 
USI's Triniti Ralston kept the momentum going, draining a three with 3:33 left to go. Little Rock led 61-56. The Trojans then took another double-digit lead with just 1:04 left to play, when Brooks drained a three-pointer. Little Rock took the lead 70-59.
 
With just 48 seconds left in the fourth, USI head coach Rick Stein was called for a technical foul after Brooks took an elbow to the face and a foul was called on USI. This set the Trojans up for four free throws, which Brenna Burk converted on three of the four. That sealed the deal for the Trojans.
  
Little Rock's largest lead came in the final 45 seconds of the game, with a 16-point lead.
 
The Trojans shot 53.1% from the field, 40% from the three, and 60% from the free-throw line. Little Rock held USI to just 40.8% shooting and forced 16 turnovers. 
 
USI was led by Gannon with 16 points and five rebounds. Ralston contributed 12 points, shooting 3-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from the three. 
 
Little Rock moves to 11-11,overall, and  9-4 in conference play, while Southern Indiana is 16-8 overall, and 8-5 in the conference.

TENNESSEE TECH 80, SIUE 54
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - After a 93-minute delay for tornado warnings in the Putnam County area, the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team surged to take an 80-54 victory over SIUE on Thursday night.
 
Tech led 18-15 at the 8:48 mark of the second quarter when the warnings were issued, sending the fans and teams into shelter in the Hooper Eblen Center and the adjacent Academic Wellness Center. As the teams came back out to the court, the Golden Eagles outscored SIUE 21-10 before the intermission.
 
The Golden Eagles extended the advantage by outscoring the visitors 27-17 in the third quarter, then edged the Cougars 14-12 in the fourth for the final 26-point margin. Tech led by as many as 31 points at the 7:39 mark in the final period.
 
With the victory, Tech (17-5, 11-2 Ohio Valley Conference) extended its winning streak to eight games and returned to the first-place tie with Eastern Illinois and Lindenwood. The Golden Eagles will face off with the Panthers in a battle of league leaders on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
The Golden Eagles ended the game with five double-digit scorers as Reghan Grimes led the way with 15 points, including three 3-point shots, as she scored nine in the 27-point third quarter. She also ended the game with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. 
 
Peyton Carter had 14 points with three long-range buckets with five rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block. Anna Walker had 13 points with three treys, eight rebounds and a block. 
 
Chloe Larry also scored 12 points to go along with seven boards, six assists and two steals. Taris Thornton also had double-digits with 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and a block.
 
As a team, Tech shot 42.2 percent from the field and was 13-for-28 from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles also went 13-for-17 from the line.
 
K.K. Rodriguez led SIUE (4-19, 2-12 OVC) with 11 points, while Brianna Wooldridge and Molly Sheehan each scored nine points.