By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn – It was close, but just not enough.
The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team battled back from a 20-point deficit, cutting within five points with 90 seconds remaining in the contest, but the valiant effort came up short as the Golden Eagles fell 65-59 to UNC Greensboro on Thursday night at the Hooper Eblen Center.
"We talked at the half about our fight," said Tech head coach Kim Rosamond, "It wasn't about the opponent, it was about us. It was about pride and who we wanted to be. I can't say enough about the heart our players showed tonight. While I'm disappointed that we weren't able to finish the game off, I think there was so much growth tonight."
Tech outscored the Spartans 28-16 in the final 10 minutes of play.
Part of the turnaround came at the charity stripe as Tech went 7-for-10 at the line in the fourth, while UNCG went 10-for-18. The Golden Eagles ended the game 12-for-16 at the line.
"That was definitely a point of emphasis," Rosamond said. "We had worked on it relentlessly in practice and focused on it. A lot of times, free-throw shooting can be mental, but it's obvious that it's been an Achilles' heel for us and we had no choice but to address it in practice. Our goal is to shoot 70 percent or better from the line and to get to the line more than our opponent. To be able to knock down that many free throws was a huge area of growth. I'm really pleased with that 75 percent."
Then Tech's defense came together.
"We made adjustments on the defensive end," Rosamond said. "I think we changed our aggression on the defensive end. We were getting stops, we were getting clean rebounds, then we were able to get out and push in transition. We were able to get more aggressive, attack and get down the floor, rather than just having to sit there and play 5-on-5 like we were pretty much doing in the first half. We didn't want to get into a 5-on-5, half-court game for an entire 40 minutes. That's not going to be our strength, and we did that in the first half because we weren't able to get stops."
Yaktavia "Shug" Hickson led the Golden Eagles with 17 points, while Akia Harris, Kandace "Tip" Newry and Hannah Goolsby each flirted with double-digit scoring, chipping in nine each.
Harris, who was injured in the opening minutes of Monday's win against Tennessee Wesleyan, played in all 40 minutes on Thursday's contest. In addition to her nine points, she also pulled down a team-high seven caroms.
As a team, the Golden Eagles shot 29.7 percent from the floor, including a 3-for-17 clip in the second quarter that contributed to Tech's woes.
Tech made up for it in the fourth quarter, shooting a blistering 53.3 percent as the Golden Eagles were 8-for-15 from the floor and 5-for-12 from beyond the arc.
The Spartans forced Tech to shoot from the perimeter as the Golden Eagles went 9-for-31 from long range. Newry knocked down the most as she nailed three of her seven attempts.
UNCG (2-1) used a strong attack from Nadine Soliman, who scored 22 points to lead all scorers. She was 8-for-19 from the field, including 5-for-9 from 3-point range.
Te'ja Twitty also put together a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards, while Bailey Williams had 11 points. Alexis Pitchford also had 10 assists for UNCG.
The Spartans took a 17-6 lead through the first quarter, then extended the advantage to 36-18 at the intermission. Both teams scored 13 points in the third.
UNCG shot 45.3 percent for the game, including 50 percent in the first and third quarters, then 61.5 percent in the second. The Spartans, however, were held to a 21.4-percent, 3-for-14 effort in the final period of play.
Tech (1-2) continues a tough non-conference slate on Saturday night as the Golden Eagles host Middle Tennessee at 6 p.m.
