By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team will finish its string of three straight home games when it squares off with Tennessee State at 6 p.m. Wednesday night in the Eblen Center. The matchup represents Tech's first chance to record a season sweep of a league opponent this year after winning the first meeting in Nashville on January 3.
FIRST TIME SINCE…
A win over TSU would give Tech a 5-0 record in OVC play for the first time since 2000-01. The Golden Eagles started the conference slate 15-0 that year and claimed the league crown for the regular season.
A victory would also bring Tech's home record to 8-0, which would be the first time since the 2001-02 campaign.
Tech would move to 13-3 overall if it prevails over TSU, equaling the program's best start through 16 games since 1989-90.
LEAGUE HONOR
Jordan Brock was recognized as the OVC Player of the Week for her recent offensive outbursts, highlighted by a career-high 33 points and eight 3-pointers on Saturday against Eastern Illinois. It is the highest scoring output by any player in the league this season.
In four conference games, Brock holds the OVC's highest scoring average (21.3 ppg), the highest 3-point clip of players with more than 20 attempts (62.5%), and the third-highest field goal percentage (60%). She also joins fellow Golden Eagles Kesha Brady and Mackenzie Coleman as the league's only three players with a perfect mark from the free-throw line.
AMONG THE GOLDEN EAGLE GREATS
One assist against TSU would give Akia Harris 299 for her career, which would move her into the top 20 on Tech's all-time career list. It will have taken her just 75 games to do so.
FILLING IT UP
The Tech offense has scored at least 77 points in three of its four conference tilts and increased its points per game to 72.7 for the season. That average for the year sits more than 12 points per game higher than the previous best in the Rosamond era (62.0 in 2016-17).
FULL ARSENAL
TTU has showcased excellent offensive balance and depth so far this season, evidenced by the seven players on the roster averaging at least 6.7 points per game. This stands in contrast to the 2017-18 club that saw only five players with more than five points per contest.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Tech is averaging 14.5 team assists per game so far this year, an uptick of nearly three assists per game over last year's campaign (11.8).
TENNESSEE STATE PROFILE
Tennessee State has been a member of the Ohio Valley Conference since the 1987-88 season, and has compiled a 191-321 record in just over 500 league games.
State reached its high-water mark in program history in the mid-90s, winning back-to-back regular-season OVC titles in 1994 and 1995. The '95 title was shared with three other teams, including Tech.
While the Tigers have found the win column only once this year under second-year head coach Jessica Kern, they played one of the toughest nonconference slates in the country; highlighted by road dates with fifth-ranked Louisville, Depaul and Vanderbilt, along with a three-day, three-game gauntlet of Power 5 opponents (Arkansas, Wisconsin and Pittsburgh) over Thanksgiving weekend.
The win came last Thursday in TSU's third conference game, when it downed Eastern Kentucky, 60-38, in Nashville.
TSU features two of the top scorers in the Ohio Valley in guard Taylor Roberts and forward Tia Wooten, who average a combined 26.9 of State's 58.6 points per game.
Roberts, an All-OVC Newcomer Team selection last year, ranks eighth in the conference at 14.3 points per game. She also ranks ninth in the league in free-throw percentage (79.7 percent) and ninth in steals per game (1.9).
Wooten was a first-team all-conference selection in 2017-18 and averages 12.3 points per contest this year, which is 12th-best in the league. She is also sixth in free-throw shooting (80%) and seventh in rebounds per game (7.4).
Forward Jadon Wrightsell is also in the league's top 10 for rebounding, ranking just above Wooten with 7.6 per game.
SERIES NOTES
Tech has won 57 of its 71 meetings against Tennessee State, which computes to TTU's highest winning percentage in any OVC series longer than 25 games. (.803).
After 20 straight head-to-head victories by an average margin of 22 points, Tech would suffer its first loss to TSU on Feb. 21, 1994, a 59-43 decision in Nashville. The Tigers, who would go on to win the OVC that season, beat TTU again that year in the OVC Tournament, 71-63.
From 1996-2006, Tech would go on another streak of dominance, winning 19 of the final 21 meetings in the Bill Worrell era.
State won five of the next seven renewals starting with the 2006-07 season, but Tech took back the momentum on Feb. 15, 2010, and has won 14 of 17 matchups leading up to present day.
Kim Rosamond has won four of her five dates with TSU, starting with a season sweep of the Tigers in 2016-17.
Tech won the most recent meeting between the two clubs, 69-59, in this year's conference opener on Jan. 3. TTU had six players score at least seven points in that game, led by double-digit producers Jordan Brock (14) and Akia Harris (11).
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Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
