Ohio Valley Conference

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State ran off the first five points of the game, never trailed and the Eagles upset Western Illinois 63-53 Thursday night in Johnson Arena.
 
Morehead State (11-9, 6-3 OVC) had four players in double figures. Violet McNece led all scorers and set a new career-high with 18 points. McNece hit seven of her nine shots from the floor, including four of her six three-point attempts. Kate Dike finished with 17, Laura Toffali finished with 13. Marie Sepp notched her second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds, playing all 40 minutes.

Morehead State opened the game by hitting four of their first six shots, including both three-point attempts, while Western Illinois hit just one of their first seven, and MSU led at the first media timeout 10-3. The Eagles finished the opening period hitting five of 13 from the floor (39%) and two for five from three-point range. WIU went five of 15 from the floor in the first ten minutes. The Eagles led 14-13.
 
The Eagles outscored the Leathernecks 14-11 in the second quarter. MSU hit five of their 12 field goals attempts while WIU hit just three of 10 from the floor. The Eagles led 28-24 at the half.
 
Western Illinois (15-3, 7-2 OVC) was led by Addi Brownfield with 17 points. Mallory Shetley added 15 and Mia Nicastro finished with 12.
 
Western Illinois rallied out of the intermission, outscoring the Eagles 20-19. The Leathernecks rode eight of 11 shooting (73%) from the floor in the period to rally. Morehead State led 47-44 heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
Both teams struggled from the floor to begin the fourth quarter. WIU hit just two of their first seven field goal attempts and MSU made just one of their first 11 shots. The Eagles hit just two of their 15 field goal attempts while WIU hit only four of their 13 attempts. Morehead State iced the game in the final period hitting 11 of their 12 free throws in the quarter. MSU also dominated on the glass 16 7 in the period. MSU outscored WIU 16-9 in the period.

LINDENWOOD 66, TENNESSEE TECH 55
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball (7-12, 3-7 OVC) defeated  Little Rock (9-10, 5-4 OVC), 67-57, on Thursday, utilizing a 23-point effort from the free-throw line. The Redhawks led throughout the game, with a 20-point contribution from their bench.

Little Rock started strong with a fast-break layup by Brenna Burk, taking an early lead. The Redhawks responded with a Kearra Jones layup assisted by Raissa Nsabua to get on the board. Carmen Taylor's three-pointer pushed the Redhawks ahead, contributing to a 6-0 run. Southeast capitalized on free throws, scoring eight from the line to extend their advantage. At the end of the quarter, the Redhawks led 20–13.

Little Rock's Brenna Burk connected on two 3-pointers, contributing to a 14-point quarter. Jones scored multiple layups in the paint, bolstering Southeast's interior game. Lexi McCully added two points from the free-throw line, maintaining the home lead. At halftime, the Redhawks held a narrow 30–27 advantage.

Da'Kariya Jackson completed a three-point play to extend Southeast's lead early in the quarter. Carmen Taylor added to the advantage with a layup, assisted by Madison Ayers, maintaining the momentum. McCully contributed with a key layup and free throw, pushing the score further in favor of the home team. At the end of the third quarter, the Redhawks led 46–37.

McCully started strong for the home side with an offensive rebound and putback to extend the lead early. Taylor and Nsabua added to the advantage with scoring in the paint and from the free-throw line, pushing the margin further. Ayers and Jackson contributed from the bench, combining for key points and assists. The Redhawks outscored Little Rock 21–20 in the final quarter, securing a 67–57 victory.

SIUE 63, TENNESSEE STATE 41
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE women's basketball dominated Tennessee State Thursday night, rolling to a 63-41 victory inside First Community Arena.
 
The Cougars improved to 9-10 overall and 2-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference play, while the Tigers dropped to 3-15 overall and 2-7 in OVC play.
 
SIUE built a commanding 29-point lead by halftime, marking their largest first-half advantage since the program began its Division I era in 2008. The last time the Cougars led by 25 or more at the break came during the 2011 season against Jacksonville State, when SIUE carried a 27-point lead into halftime.
 
During the second quarter SIUE had a 17-2 run over six minutes and 54 seconds while TSU fell into a three-minute scoring drought with 6:07 remaining before halftime.
 
Macy Silvey knocked down all five of her three-pointers in the first half. She finished the night with 15 points and three rebounds. Lauren Miller matched Silvey with 15 points while adding three rebounds and four assists.
 
Kiyoko Proctor followed with 12 points and matched her career-high five steals. Syanne Mohamed led the team with eight rebounds and three blocks.
 
The Cougars shot 40 percent (24-of-60) from the field and were efficient at the free-throw line, converting 83 percent (5-of-6).

SOUTHERN INDIANA 73, EASTERN ILLINOIS 57
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball opened its season-long four-game homestand inside Liberty Arena on Thursday night with a 73-57 victory against Eastern Illinois University for the Screaming Eagles' fifth consecutive overall win and eighth straight win at home.
 
Following Thursday's triumph and a loss by Western Illinois University earlier in the evening at Morehead State University, USI Women's Basketball (14-4, 8-1 OVC) moved into sole possession of first place.
 
In Thursday's win, junior forward Chloe Gannon dropped a game-high 21 points, one off her career-best 22 points from earlier this season. Gannon was 9-17 from the floor and added six rebounds. Senior guard Ali Saunders tallied 14 points with four boards and seven assists. Junior guard Sophia Loden recorded 12 points with five rebounds.
 
Collectively, USI shot for over 43 percent (30-69) overall with four triples and went 9-17 at the foul line. The Screaming Eagles had a season-low seven turnovers while forcing 21 EIU turnovers on the defensive end, including 12 takeaways by the USI defense. The Eagles outscored the Panthers 46-20 in the paint.
 
Eastern Illinois, which had two players finished in double figures, was just over 40 percent shooting from the floor (22-54), had five three-pointers, and went 8-10 at the charity stripe. The Panthers matched the Eagles with 37 rebounds.
 
Following a defensive start to the contest with nearly four scoreless minutes, Saunders got USI on the scoreboard first. Saunders scored twice more over the next couple of minutes to push USI to an 8-2 advantage just past the five-minute mark of the opening quarter. With 2:15 left in the first period, Saunders drained a three-pointer followed by a layup by junior guard Shannon Blacher to give the Screaming Eagles a 15-7 lead through the first 10 minutes.
 
Sophomore guard Lexi Sepulveda came off the bench and scored a pair of buckets for a spark in the early minutes of the second quarter. By the halfway point of the second, USI claimed a nine-point lead, 25-16. A minute later, the Eagles' lead reached double figures, 27-16, on an inside look by Gannon. Gannon tacked on another bucket with two minutes left in the first half. USI ended up taking a 33-22 lead into halftime.
 
Gannon started the second half where she left off at the end of the first half, connecting on a jumper to reach double digits for the game. Eastern Illinois tried to bring the deficit back to within single digits, but Blacher answered twice to keep USI ahead by more than 10 points. Thanks to another made basket by Gannon, the Screaming Eagles led 44-32 at the midway point of the third quarter. While Eastern Illinois cut back to within seven, USI responded as Gannon kept rolling offensively and a late make by Loden gave USI a 53-41 lead through three quarters of play.
 
Loden picked up where she left off at the end of third, scoring eight straight points within the first 1:15 of the fourth period to increase USI's lead to 20, 61-41, and joining Gannon in double figures. A few minutes later, Saunders went into takeover mode with a three-point play and then scoring another layup to also hit double digits for the contest. Gannon reached the 20-point threshold just past the five-minute mark of the fourth, as the Eagles led 68-51. The final exclamation point in Thursday's win came when freshman forward Alli Robertson drained a straightaway three in the final minute.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 67, LITTLE ROCK 57
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball (7-12, 3-7 OVC) defeated  Little Rock (9-10, 5-4 OVC), 67-57, on Thursday, utilizing a 23-point effort from the free-throw line. The Redhawks led throughout the game, with a 20-point contribution from their bench.

Little Rock started strong with a fast-break layup by Brenna Burk, taking an early lead. The Redhawks responded with a Kearra Jones layup assisted by Raissa Nsabua to get on the board. Carmen Taylor's three-pointer pushed the Redhawks ahead, contributing to a 6-0 run. Southeast capitalized on free throws, scoring eight from the line to extend their advantage. At the end of the quarter, the Redhawks led 20–13.

Little Rock's Brenna Burk connected on two 3-pointers, contributing to a 14-point quarter. Jones scored multiple layups in the paint, bolstering Southeast's interior game. Lexi McCully added two points from the free-throw line, maintaining the home lead. At halftime, the Redhawks held a narrow 30–27 advantage.

Da'Kariya Jackson completed a three-point play to extend Southeast's lead early in the quarter. Carmen Taylor added to the advantage with a layup, assisted by Madison Ayers, maintaining the momentum. McCully contributed with a key layup and free throw, pushing the score further in favor of the home team. At the end of the third quarter, the Redhawks led 46–37.

McCully started strong for the home side with an offensive rebound and putback to extend the lead early. Taylor and Nsabua added to the advantage with scoring in the paint and from the free-throw line, pushing the margin further. Ayers and Jackson contributed from the bench, combining for key points and assists. The Redhawks outscored Little Rock 21–20 in the final quarter, securing a 67–57 victory.