By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The defense came through for the Tennessee Tech women on Thursday night as the Golden Eagles bounced back from two straight losses to take down Austin Peay 62-57 in the Eblen Center.
The win also gives Tech 12 conference wins, tying the 2018-19 Golden Eagles for the most OVC wins in the Kim Rosamond era.
"We really needed this one tonight," Rosamond said. "Our kids needed to get back on the right track. We had been playing really, really well, but then we had two really tough games against Belmont. Our word for tonight was 'resilient.' I thought our kids were really resilient tonight against a really tough, physical, scrappy Austin Peay team. It was a great comeback win."
Tech (14-8, 12-7 Ohio Valley Conference) moved into a tie for third place with Southeast Missouri (14-10, 12-7 OVC), with Jacksonville State (14-8, 11-7 OVC) in fifth, Austin Peay (12-9, 10-7) in sixth, Murray State (14-10, 11-8) in seventh. Eastern Illinois locked up the eight spot with an 11-13 record, 9-10 in the OVC. UT Martin (17-4, 16-2 OVC) and Belmont (16-5, 13-3 OVC) locked up the top two spots, leaving 3-through-7 still up for grabs.
It wasn't a pretty win, but it was a win.
"In February, all that matters is that 'W,'" Rosamond said. "I thought, for the most part outside of the turnovers, we found our way with defense. We held Austin Peay to nine points in the third quarter – we didn't score a lot of points either – but we were able to hold them down. I really liked our effort and our toughness."
It was tough to finally break away from a physical Austin Peay squad, but Tech was able to force them to go 22-for-55 from the floor, including 7-for-24 from 3-point range. The Governors had a slim advantage on the boards, collecting just one more rebound than Tech, but had 13 offensive boards to the Golden Eagles' six, leading to Austin Peay's 12-2 advantage on second-chance points.
Jada Guinn led the way for Tech with 16 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Guinn was 6-for-8 at the free-throw line. Kesha Brady also scored in double figures, posting 15 points to go along with five boards.
The difference in the game can be summed up at the free-throw line as the Golden Eagles were 14-for-17 at the stripe. Austin Peay went 6-for-13 and missed some crucial tosses down the stretch. Those loomed large in the fourth quarter as the Governors outscored Tech 19-15 to chip away Tech's advantage.
"We were huge at the free-throw line," Rosamond said. "Mackenzie Coleman hit two big ones at the end. This time of year, you just have to find a way and the kids did that tonight."
The Golden Eagles also saw improvement on offense as Tech ended the game with a 50-percent shooting night. Tech was 7-for-14 in the first, 8-for-12 in the second, 4-for-11 in the third, then 3-for-7 in the fourth. Austin Peay went 4-for-15 in the third quarter as the defense doubled its efforts against a physical Govs squad.
Physical was a good way to describe it – the Governors had one foul out and another in foul trouble, while the Golden Eagles had three with four fouls. Both teams ended with 17 fouls in the contest.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday for the regular-season finale as Tech hosts Murray State. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m.