NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tradition continues. For the
21st time in 31 years, Tennessee Tech has advanced to
the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference women’s
basketball tournament.
Third-seeded Tech (17-15) will meet No. 1 seed UT Martin Saturday
at 4:30 p.m. in a nationally televised game in Municipal
Auditorium.
Coach Sytia Messer’s team made it a rematch of last
year’s title game by pulling out an 81-72 victory in overtime
over No. 2 seed Eastern Illinois Friday afternoon.
Senior Tacarra Hayes nearly made history, finishing with 26
points, 14 rebounds, nine assists and five steals. She was one
assist short of recording the first triple-double in tourney
history.
Junior Jala Harris also had a huge game, finishing with 24 points
including seven in overtime. Molly Heady just missed another
double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, while freshman
T’Keyah Williams added 10 points before leaving late in
regulation with an injury.
Eastern Illinois (22-8) had three players in double figures,
topped by Ta’Kenya Nixon with 23 points. Mariah King added 11
points and seven rebounds, and Jordyne Crunck netted 10 for the
Panthers.
The Golden Eagles have now won 11 of their last 13 games.
Tech never trailed the entire game, pulling on top by as many as
14 points in the first half. The Golden Eagles were still up by
double digits with under nine minutes remaining, before Eastern
Illinois began to peck away at the difference.
Following a 40-minute delay in which the arena was evacuated to a
safer location because of a tornado warning, the Panthers finally
tied the contest on a 3-pointer by Sydney Mitchell with 12 seconds
left.
Tech had one chance to win in regulation by Hayes’ layup
missed with one second to play.
Already missing post players Brittany Darling (fouls) and Williams
(injury), and with Harris playing with four fouls, the Golden
Eagles didn’t miss a beat in the overtime.
Harris got things started with a 3-pointer, her fourth of the
game. After Nixon hit two free throws, Harris added a driving layup
for a 73-70 lead, and Hayes added a jumper for a five-point margin.
Heady made one free throw and Harris another layup and the lead was
eight, 78-70, with 1:06 to play.
In fact Tech went 4-for-5 from the field in overtime and built an
11-point lead, 81-70, before the Panthers managed their only basket
of the extra session. They finished 1-for-8 in overtime.