COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The battle for first place met all expectations for 35 minutes.

Tennessee Tech and UT Martin matched each other Thursday night in the Eblen Center before the Golden Eagles used a late run to pull away to a 74-57 victory and hold onto a share of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Tacarra Hayes’ notched her fifth career double-double with 18 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. The all-OVC junior guard flirted with another triple-double, handing out nine assists.

She was one of five player to score in double digits for coach Sytia Messer’s squad. Freshman guard Briana Jordan added 13 points, Rachel Glidden netted 12, while both Molly Heady and Kylie Cook contributed 10 points.

Tech’s balanced offense was enough to outlast the one-two backcourt scoring punch of UT Martin’s freshman duo of Heather Butler and Jasmine Newsome. Butler, who ranks 16^th nationally in scoring and is the top-scoring freshman in the country, finished with 24 points, while Newsome had 17. Jaclissa Haislip finished with nine points and 10 rebounds for the Skyhawks.

With the win, Tech improved to 11-4 overall and 5-1 in the OVC, keeping pace with Eastern Illinois (5-1 OVC), which downed Eastern Kentucky Thursday night. UT Martin saw its overall mark dip to 9-8 while the Skyhawks OVC record moved to 4-2.

Tech also improved to 6-1 at home this year.

After trailing for most of the first half, the Golden Eagles pieced together a 12-2 run behind Hayes and Heady. It erased UT Martin’s early 17-11 lead and gave the home team a 23-19 advantage with 5:25 to play.

The Golden Eagles went up by as many as seven late in the half, a 3-pointer from Glidden and a jumper by Jordan making it a 31-24 Tech lead.

Newsome, who had eight in the first half, closed the period with two free throws for a five-point difference at intermission.

UTM shot 30.3 percent (10-for-33) in the opening half, including 2-for-11 from long distance. Butler had 13 points at halftime. The Golden Eagles hot 43.8 percent in the first 20 minutes (14-for-32) including 2-for-12 from outside the arc. Hayes was the leading scorer with 11 at the break. 

The Skyhwaks battled back to within one point a couple of times in the second half, before Haislip’s 3-pointer with 8:20 to play tied the contest at 51-51.

Jordan hit a layup and followed with a 3-pointer to score the next five points and give Tech a 56-51 lead, an advantage that grew to 10 points after a Cook 3-pointer and two free throws by Heady with five minutes on the clock.

UT Martin got it down to six points, 63-57, as Newsome hit a layup with 2:39 to go, but Tech scored the game’s final 11 points, including 3-pointers by Cook, Jordan and Glidden.

The Golden Eagles finished with a 43-38 edge in rebounds. Tech shot 43.5 percent for the game (27-for-62) and heated up to 40 percent from long range (10-for-25) after going 8-for-13 in the second half.

Tech’s next task is Saturday evening when Murray State visits Eblen Center

for a 5:30 p.m. contest. That game is Putnam County Night, with residents of Putnam County receiving a $1 ticket offer.

It’s also Basketball Alumni Night for both the women’s and men’s team.

For tickets, call (931-372-3940) or visit the Athletics Ticket Office in Eblen Center.