COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – This one really could have gone either way, and it did for much of the night. Belmont grabbed the final lead of the contest and held on against a desperation attempt to claim a 64-62 Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball victory over Tennessee Tech Saturday night in Eblen Center.
The Golden Eagles used a 10-0 run in the waning minutes to reclaim the lead for the fourth time, but Belmont had the final five, all from Katie Carroll, for the two-point win.
Jordyn Luffman-Hartsfield hit five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points to pace Belmont (12-15/9-5 OVC) in scoring. Sally McCabe added 12 and Carroll scored 11. Adrienne Tarrance finished with nine of Belmont's 20 assists and Sierra Jones had seven helpers.
Tech (5-21/2-11 OVC) was led by Samaria Howard with 21 points, while T'Keyah Williams added 11 points, six rebounds and three assists. Shunice "Tionne" Herron added 10 points. Candace Parson added seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Belmont raced out to an early lead, and pushed its advantage to as many as 13 points, that coming with a 22-9 margin with 10:47 to play in the period on a layup by McCabe.
From there, the Golden Eagles used an 11-3 run of their own to cut the margin to five points, 25-20, with 5:21 remaining. A pair of 3-pointers by Hannah Goolsby sparked the run before Belmont stopped the stretch with a 3-pointer from Carroll. The lead went back to 10 once again, before Tech made it a seven-point game at halftime, 32-25.
The Golden Eagles came out with guns blazing in the second half, scoring the first eight points to claim their first lead of the night at 33-32 on a three-point play by Parson.
Tech nursed the lead over the next nine minutes, going up by six on a Parson layup, and again on a jumper by Howard, the latter coming with 11:40 remaining for a 46-40 lead.
Belmont got a pair of 3-pointers by Luffman-Hartsfield and came back to tie it at 50-50, and eventually pulled back ahead by seven when she hit another 3-pointer for a 59-52 lead.
Tech answered with the next 10 points, beginning with a 3-pointer by Goolsby and a three-point play by Howard. After Howard added another jumper to put Tech up 60-59, Herron electrified the crowd with a scoop shot layup for a 62-59 lead with 1:36 to play.
At the other end, Katie Carroll knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game 20 seconds later, then hit a long shot that was originally scored as a 3-pointer, but changed to a two after review and Belmont was up 64-62 wit 26 seconds to play.
Tech had a shot with six seconds remaining, but a 15-foot jumper by Howard bounced off the rim, and Belmont's Madison Blevins was fouled with 3.2 seconds left.
She missed her free throw, and Tech grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 2.3 seconds to play.
The inbounds pass went to Herron, who heaved a shot from beyond half court that didn't connect.
The Golden Eagles will finish out the season with a pair of road games in Kentucky next week, beginning Monday with a rescheduled game at Morehead State at 4 p.m. CT.
