Tech women fall at Vanderbilt

Tech women fall at Vanderbilt

By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information

NASHVILLE – Things started off well for the Tennessee Tech women on Thursday night at Vanderbilt. The Golden Eagles held the early lead and had things going their way.

But turnovers shifted the momentum as Vanderbilt scored 35 points off giveaways and built a lead that Tech just wasn't able to recover against, falling 75-55 at Memorial Gym.

It's just the first loss of the season for the Golden Eagles (2-1) among a tough non-conference slate. Tech returns to action on Monday as they host Middle Tennessee.

Anna Jones had a tremendous effort to lead the Golden Eagles, despite a lot of defensive pressure from the Commodores. Jones scored a Tech career-best 24 points – six points shy of her collegiate career high of 30 – as she was 9-for-11 from the field, 1-for-1 from 3-point range and 5-for-7 at the free-throw line as she also pulled down nine rebounds.

Jada Guinn had nine points and Maaliya Owens scored eight with five boards.

Vanderbilt (2-2) had four players in double-figures as De'Mauri Flournoy led the Commodores with 14 points, while Brinae Alexander scored 13, Iyana Moore added 12 and Kaylon Smith chipped in 10.

After Guinn gave Tech a 9-5 lead midway through the first quarter, Vanderbilt went on a 12-0 run to close out the stanza. The Golden Eagles went cold, shooting 3-for-12 from the field, while Vandy heated up, ending the quarter 7-for-14.

The Commodores closed out an 18-0 run as Alexander hit a jumper to put Vanderbilt up 23-9.

The first three quarters for Vanderbilt were identical 17-point affairs, while Tech was held to 11 in the second. The Golden Eagles tried to chip away, outscoring the Commodores 20-17 in the third quarter, but Vanderbilt extended the lead with a 24-15 fourth quarter as time started to run down.

The Golden Eagles ended the night with 24 turnovers, 14 on Vandy steals with Alexander and Smith each pulling away three.

For the game, Tech was 20-for-46 from the field, including 4-for-13 from the field and 11-for-16 from the free-throw line. Vanderbilt was 30-for-60 on the court, 6-for-15 from 3 and 9-for-13 from the stripe.