By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Anacia Wilkinson was a dominant force in Tennessee Tech's 76-65 win over Tennessee State on Wednesday night, finishing just one block short of a triple-double to help Tech complete the season sweep of TSU, and move to 8-0 inside the Hooper Eblen Center.
Wilkinson picked up her second double-double in the last three games, leading TTU in scoring and rebounding with 12 and 10, respectively.
She also tallied a career-high nine blocks, which tied the school record, and moved her into the top 10 on Tech's all-time career list.
With a double-double last Thursday against SIUE and an 18-point, 9-rebound effort against Eastern Illinois on Saturday, the Houston native has averaged 14 points, 10.3 rebounds and 5 blocks over her last three tilts.
She's made 64.5 percent of her field goal attempts in that span, and owns the Ohio Valley Conference's best mark in the category over five league contests (62.2%).
"After not being able to play for three years, I have to do something," said Wilkinson, who has battled two significant knee injuries while at Tech. "I want to leave a legacy when I'm gone."
"I just tried to play relaxed and confident, and have my sisters' backs out there."
"Confidence is contagious, and (Anacia's) confidence for us right now is contagious," Rosamond said. "Her teammates know that when they get beat, she's going to be right there defensively. She's playing at a very, very high level, and I think her teammates are feeding off of that."
Behind Wilkinson and four other players who had at least nine points, Tech moved to 5-0 in the OVC for the first time since 2001, and has now won eight games in a row for the first time since the OVC-champion 2010-11 team.
Just five games into their conference slate, the Golden Eagles have now concluded their season series with TSU as owners of a 2-0 sweep.
Rosamond admitted that her team's performance had its deficiencies, but was very happy to file away another league contest into the win column.
"When you can get a win and feel like you didn't play as well as you're capable of playing, and still win by 11, you've got to take that and be proud of it," she said. "There are a lot of things we have to work to improve on. We still have to figure out how to put four solid quarters together, but I'm just proud of our kids and proud of our fight tonight."
Jordan Brock and Abby Buckner joined Wilkinson in double figures with 11 points each.
Brock, who entered the game as the OVC's leading scorer during the conference season, extended her string of games in double figures to seven in a row.
Buckner went 3-of-4 from 3-point land, giving her at least three trifectas in three of her last four games. While her 3-point mark for the season is 26.8 percent, she's seen much improvement lately with 12 connections on her last 25 attempts (48%).
Akia Harris and Kentoria Alexander tallied nine points apiece, and combined for 14 of TTU's 18 assists.
Harris had nine of those helpers, giving her at least six in each of her last four games. By a wide margin, she leads the league in assists during conference play with 6.6 per contest.
Harris' distribution also etched her name into the top 20 of TTU's all-time list for assists. With 307 in her time as a Golden Eagle, she sits at No. 18.
Alexander, the other dynamic, do-it-all guard in the Tech lineup, sits fourth in the league for assists in conference games at 4.6.
Combined, Harris and Alexander have averaged 11.2 assists per league game. No other tandem is above 7.8.
"Melanie Balcomb, my boss for nine years at Vanderbilt and one of the best offensive minds in the game, always talked about how she loved having two point guards on the floor at all times," Rosamond said. "We're able to have two point guards on the floor when (Harris and Alexander) are in the game. They're tough to guard off the bounce, and they're two of our better defenders as well. They act as our motor, and set the tone on both ends of the floor for us.
Alexander also secured six rebounds, which followed Wilkinson for TTU's second-highest total in the game.
All 10 Golden Eagles who saw action also scored.
Taylor Lamb finished with seven points, Kesha Brady and Mackenzie Coleman each had five, Lacy Cantrell had four, and Megan Clark chipped in three.
To their credit, TSU would not go away, as the Tigers rallied to cut the TTU lead to single digits on two separate occasions, after trailing by large deficits.
Tech overwhelmed TSU early on, and used the first 15 minutes of the game to build a 19-point lead, 33-14, with 5:13 to go before halftime.
State would chip away to make it a 14-point game at the break, then scored six of the first seven points in the third quarter to get back within nine.
Tech mounted a 15-4 run over the next four minutes to open its biggest lead of the game – 20 points.
With just under 14 minutes to play, TSU went back to work, answering with a 17-6 run that made it a nine-point game again with seven and a half minutes left.
Ball control and solid free throw shooting would keep the Tigers at bay after that.
"Our goal is literally just to be better tomorrow than we were today," Rosamond said. "And we've got a lot of improvements to make tomorrow. We've got a huge road game on Saturday, and we're excited about getting on the road. Jacksonville State is one of the toughest places to play in our conference, and they are one of the most physical teams in our conference, so it will be a great challenge for us."
"I'm so excited about what I see building with our fan base and how special that's becoming. There's going to come a time when this place is packed for these kids. It's getting there. It's growing, and it's not because of WHO we play, it's because of our HOW – how these kids play. I think people are starting to see the special bond, and how hard they play."
Tech's next game at Jacksonville State (8-7, 2-2 OVC) will tip at 5 p.m. CT on Saturday afternoon.
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
