MONDAY'S SCORE
Tennessee Tech 68, @Tennessee State 49
TENNESSEE TECH 68, TENNESSEE STATE 49
NASHVILLE - The way the first half went, things did not look good for the Tennessee Tech women's basketball. But for as bad as it got, a nine-point deficit at the intermission was far from insurmountable.
The Golden Eagles outscored Tennessee State 46-18 in the second half to power to back-to-back victories on Monday night, topping the Lady Tigers 68-49.
For the entire game, Chloe Larry put Tech on her shoulders, scoring a career-high 28 points on 10-for-13 shooting, including 3-for-5 from long range and 5-for-6 at the line.
Reghan Grimes went down with an apparent injury in the second quarter, scoring just two points before heading to the locker room for evaluation. She returned for the second half with a vengeance. The Nashville native scored 13 points in the final two periods on 5-for-7 shooting, knocking down one of her two 3-point tries and both free throws. Grimes finished the night with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
The contrast in the two halves is incredible. TSU outscored Tech 31-29, shooting 64.3 percent in the first and 30.8 in the second for a 48.1-percent opening half. The Golden Eagles shot 27.8 percent in the first and 30.8 in the second. The Lady Tigers outrebounded Tech 22-15, had an 8-3 lead on assists, had a 7-6 advantage on fouls and outblocked Tech 4-2.
Talk about flipping the script – the Golden Eagles forced TSU into 15 fouls and 14 turnovers as Tech went 15-for-20 at the line in the third and fourth, while also scoring 20 points off the turnovers. TSU shot 29.6 percent in the second half to Tech's 53.8.
In the final 20 minutes, it was all Tech.
For the final numbers, TSU (3-18, 2-10 OVC) still finished with more boards at 40-33 and blocked eight shots, but Tech (12-9, 5-7 OVC) had 26 points on 26 TSU turnovers and finished 17-for-24 at the free-throw line.
In addition to Larry and Grimes' night, LaReesha Cawthorn ended the game with 11 points and six rebounds.
Aaniya Webb and Xai Whitfield both led TSU with nine points, while Brianna Wooldridge led with 10 rebounds and Erin Martin had four blocks.