By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Against one of the more physical teams in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Tennessee Tech women held their own against Morehead State. In the meeting at Morehead, the Golden Eagles went down to the final possession.
This time around, on Saturday, the Tech women reversed their fortunes and pulled away, cruising to a 58-49 victory at the Hooper Eblen Center.
"Any win right now is a good win, especially in the thick of things and where we are in our league right now," said Tech head coach Kim Rosamond. "And any time we can get a win over Morehead State is great because they are such a difficult matchup for us, and that showed again today.
"Offensively, we were not at our best, but I am extremely proud that we didn't let that affect us on the defensive side of the ball. To be able to hold them to 49 points (down from their average of 60.3) is outstanding. We said all along the key to this game was going to be the rebounding battle and we won that."
Rosamond continued, "Nothing in this game from an execution standpoint was pretty, but that win is very, very pretty. I'm really proud of how resilient our kids were, how relentless they were and they just found a way to finish today."
With the victory – Tech's fifth in the last six games – the Golden Eagles improve to 9-5, 7-4 in the OVC. Tech moves into fourth place in the league, with two of the top three teams – UT Martin with its eight-game OVC win streak in first and Southeast Missouri tied for second with Austin Peay – up next on the schedule.
It was definitely a physical game between the two teams – whistles blew for 42 combined fouls with four Morehead players and two Tech players collecting four or more fouls. That also contributed to 18 trips to the free-throw line for the Golden Eagles, hitting 11, while MSU was 15-for-18 at the stripe.
Tech was also able to contain some of Morehead State's biggest weapons. Ole Miss transfer Gabby Crawford still managed a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, but held her to 5-of-13 shooting and forced her into three turnovers. The team's leading scorer on the season, Ariel Kirkwood, was held to four points and five rebounds.
MSU (5-10, 4-6 OVC) was contained to a 28.6-percent night shooting from the floor, including 2-for-17 from 3-point range with Jazzmyn Elston hitting both long-rangers.
The Golden Eagles maintained control for most of the game – Morehead's lead lasted barely over five minutes – but some uncharacteristic turnovers did keep the visiting Eagles hanging around a little longer than hoped. Tech ended the game with 24 turnovers as MSU converted those into 21 points. The Golden Eagles were able to keep that from becoming a bigger factor, however, as Tech was able to turn 17 Morehead giveaways into 19 points.
After ending the first quarter all square at nine points each, Tech was able to jump out to a slight advantage at the half, going into the locker room up 28-23. Morehead chipped into that in the third by outscoring the Golden Eagles 18-15 to make it a 43-41 contest through three, then the visitors tied the game early in the fourth quarter.
Tech never looked back. Morehead mustered only six more points in the contest to Tech's 15 in the final period of play. Mackenzie Coleman scored six of her 14 points and Kesha Brady had five of her 12 to shut the door on Morehead and secure the victory.
Anna Jones also flirted with a double-double, coming up a point shy from the second in her career and in as many games, as she also recorded a career-high 12 rebounds.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Thursday as they head to Cape Girardeau, Mo., to take on Southeast Missouri. Tipoff from the Show Me Center is slated for 5 p.m.
Photo | Matt Dexter, TTU Athletics