By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—It's finally the time we have all been waiting for: basketball season. The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team will tipoff their 2016-17 year with a 6 p.m. contest versus Wright State in the Hooper Eblen Center on Friday evening.
Recently, the Golden Eagles began preparation for the regular season with an exhibition contest versus North Alabama on Monday night. There, Tech defeated the Lions 72-53.
Freshman Akia Harris led the Golden Eagles with 14 points. Harris knocked down four-of-nine from the field to shoot 44.4 percent. She also connected on six-of-eight at the charity stripe, while grabbing two rebounds, three assists, one block, and two steals in the game.
Redshirt freshman Anacia Wilkinson was another key contributor on the Tech lineup. Wilkinson put up 12 points for the Golden Eagles while grabbing eight boards. She went 4-5 from the field and 4-6 at the line.
Treyvonna Brooks led the Tech defense with nine rebounds and three blocks in the contest. Brooks shot 23.1 percent from the field, 50 percent from the 3-point range, and 50 percent from the line.
Yaktavia Hickson also had a solid first showing Monday night. The junior tallied nine points and three assists for the Golden Eagles. She shot 40 percent from the field, while also grabbing three rebounds.
As a team, the Golden Eagles shot 40 percent from the field, 27.3 percent from beyond the arc, and 58.3 percent from the charity stripe. Tech forced 22 turnovers, while only allowing 13 in the contest and grabbed 46 boards to North Alabama's 37.
The Golden Eagles held the Lions to a 28 FG%, 25.9 3FG%, and 62.1 FT%.
The Tech women's basketball team loses four players to graduation, and welcomes two true freshmen to the lineup in the 2016-17 season.
Top returners from last season are Hannah Goolsby and Yaktavia Hickson.
With the loss of former Golden Eagle standout Samaria Howard who led the Golden Eagles with 21.0 points per game last season, Goolsby will takeover as Tech's top returning scorer. Goolsby averaged 8.6 points and 2.6 boards in the 2015-16 year. She shot 32.7 percent from the field, 32 percent from downtown, and 72.7 percent from the line. She also led Tech in assists with 61 on the season.
Hickson will return to the Purple and Gold squad as the second leading scorer. She averaged 8.1points and 2.4 rebounds per game last season. Hickson shot 85.7 percent from the charity stripe, which landed her a spot in the Tech record books for free throw percentage in a season. Hickson also shot 38.9 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from beyond the arc.
The Golden Eagles will look to Alliyah Smith to be the top returner in the paint. Last season, Smith grabbed 177 rebounds to lead Tech, while also shooting 40.8 percent from the field. Smith put up the second most blocks on the Golden Eagle team with 16 on the year.
A new face on the Tech team, and player to watch will be freshman Akia Harris. Harris joins the Tennessee Tech family after playing her senior year at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy and prior to that, four years (eighth grade to junior seasons) at the Girls Preparatory School (GPS). A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., Harris tallied 1,075 career points and scored a career-best 35 points against Northwest Whitfield in November of 2014. Harris was ranked 10th on the Rick Bolus Tennessee players list as a sophomore and was selected by the Chattanooga Times-Free Press to the first-team Best of Preps her freshman and sophomore years.
The Golden Eagles will also begin the 2016-17 season under new instruction. First year head coach Kim Rosamond takes over at the Tech women's basketball coach after serving for nine years as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt University. The Ole Miss alumnus is eager to bring a fresh new perspective to the Golden Eagle squad, and is determined to get the Tennessee Tech program back to championship level. She preaches everyday to the players and coaching staff to be successful in everything that they do both on and off the court.
This will be the first time that the Golden Eagles and Raiders have faced-off.
First-year head coach Katrina Merriweather, who was named the seventh head coach in program history on April 19, 2016, stands at the helm of the Wright State team. The Raiders lose four letterwinners from last year's lineup, while welcoming five true-freshman and two transfers to the team.
Wright State's top returner to the 2016-17 roster is Anita Hayes. Hayes averaged 12.2 points and 7.5 boards per game last season. She shot 41.4 percent from the field and 62.4 percent from the line. She grabbed 226 boards on the 2015-16 year, while also tallying 54 assists, 19 steals, and 10 blocks.
Another key returner for the Raiders will be Emily Vogelpohl. Vogelpohl averaged 10.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game last season. She shot 43.3 percent from the floor, 34.1 percent from downtown, and 71.6 percent from the charity stripe. Vogelpohl grabbed 128 boards, dished out 99 assists, put up 68 blocks for Wright State.
You can follow the Golden Eagles online on the TTU Sports and Tennessee Tech Women's Basketball Facebook pages or on Twitter at @TTUGoldenEagles and @TTUWBB.
For ticket information visit TTUsports.com or call 931-372-3940.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
