By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information
RADFORD, Va.—A 28-10 third quarter carried Radford (2-1) to a 79-46 victory over the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team (1-4) on Wednesday evening in the Dedmon Center in Radford, Va.
"I thought our offense really dictated our defense," head coach Kim Rosamond said. "We weren't able to score so we weren't getting rebounds and this was just a different basketball team than we were Saturday night. We just have to regroup tomorrow, and not feel sorry for ourselves because UNC Asheville is going to be a tough competitor."
An early foul brought Yaktavia "Shug" Hickson to the line to knock down 2-of-2 to open the first quarter with a 2-0 Golden Eagle lead. Hannah Goolsby drained one from downtown at the 4:37 mark to cut the Highlander lead down to 8-7 right before the first media timeout. After the break, a Radford turnover set up Lindsey Jennings for the breakaway layup to give Tech the 9-8 lead with 3:35 left in the first. The Highlanders battled back and went on a 12-0 run to retake the lead at 20-9. A Kandace "Tip" Newry three with 30.4 seconds left in the quarter ended the Tech scoring drought and closed out the first with a score of 20-12 in favor of the Highlanders.
After the first quarter, Radford was shooting 60 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from beyond the arc, while Tech was shooting 26.7 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from the three-point range. The Highlanders forced six Golden Eagle turnovers, while only allowing five.
Radford's Brittany Allen opened second quarter action with a three at the 9:37 mark and extend the Highlander lead to 23-12. An Anacia Wilkinson layup with 6:21 to go in the first half brought Tech within six of Radford at 24-18. A jumper from Radford's Jen Falconer at the 4:28 mark then put the Highlanders up 10 at 28-18. A Trey Brooks layup with 15 seconds left in the first half brought the score to 34-24, and then two at the line from Radford's Khiana Johnson with two seconds to go ended the half with a score of 36-24.
At the half, the Highlanders were shooting 50 percent from the field and the three-point range and 75 percent from the charity stripe. The Golden Eagles were shooting 28.1 percent from the floor 37.5 percent from downtown, and 50 percent from the free throw line. Radford corralled 36 boards including 19 on the defensive end, while Tech gathered 16 caroms. The Highlanders forced eight Golden Eagle turnovers, scoring off of all of them, while allowing nine with which Tech scored off of four.
A Tech foul at the 9:20 mark gave Radford the bucket and one to open the second half with a 39-24 score. Hickson answered the 3-point Highlander play with a bucket from downtown at the 8:30 mark, cutting the Radford lead to 41-27. The Highlanders then went on a 6-0 run, before to Hickson buckets at the charity stripe ended the Golden Eagle scoring drought to cut the Radford lead to 47-29. Radford then closed out the third quarter leading by 30 at 64-34.
After a two minute scoring drought by both squads to open the fourth quarter, Treyvonna "Trey" Brooks put two on the board for the Golden Eagles to cut the Radford lead to 64-36. The Highlanders then claimed a victory 79-46 over the Golden Eagles.
Hickson fouled out with 8:54 to go in the game, leaving the Golden Eagles with 11 points and two rebounds. She went 2-for-7 from the floor, with both buckets occurring behind the arc and went 5-for-6 from the free throw line. Brooks came up just shy of a double-double, tallying 10 points and six boards in the contest, while Hannah Goolsby tallied six points off of two threes.
The Golden Eagles shot 32.1 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from beyond the arc, and 58.3 percent from the line, while Radford shot 48.1 percent from the floor, 50 percent from downtown, and 87.5 percent from the charity stripe.
The Golden Eagles get right back into action on Friday, when they travel to UNC Asheville for a 2 p.m. contest in Kimmel Arena.
Photo by Jim Dillon
