By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team wrapped up one heck of a present for head coach Kim Rosamond's birthday, fighting back from an early deficit and working toward a 65-55 victory over Southeast Missouri on Thursday night.
The win – Tech's 12th of the Ohio Valley Conference campaign – ties Rosamond's seasons in 2018-19 and 2020-21 for 12 league victories. The Golden Eagle head coach has three games remaining in the regular season to try to top that mark.
With the victory, the field for the OVC Basketball Championships is set, but seeding still to be determined with the final three games of the regular season. Belmont (13-2) continues to lead the way, with Tech standing a game back in second at 12-3. Murray State (11-3), Austin Peay (10-5), Eastern Illinois (8-7), UT Martin (8-7), Tennessee State (6-9) and SIUE (6-9) round out the rest of the field of eight.
Anna Jones collected her second straight double-double scoring 22 points – four shy of hitting the 1,000-point mark in her career – and pulling down a career-high 16 rebounds. It is the fifth double-double for Jones in her career, the fourth this season. She finished the game shooting 7-of-14 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Mackenzie Coleman was the only other Golden Eagle in double digits on Thursday night, scoring 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting and 3-for-3 at the line.
Tech scored nearly half of its points in the game at the free-throw line, shooting 83 percent at the stripe as the Golden Eagles knocked down 29 of 35 tries, drawing 23 fouls in the contest. Tech also controlled the boards, winning the rebound battle 44-45 with 13 offensive boards.
However, it was a tough night shooting from the field for Tech, ending the game 17-for-55 for a 30.9 percentage. The Golden Eagles were 4-for-15 in the first quarter, including 0-for-4 from 3-point range. The Redhawks were 7-for-12 and took a 18-13 lead after one.
Tech came back, putting together a 14-0 run to take a 31-24 lead at the intermission. SEMO chipped away, eventually tying the game at 41-all with 1:22 left in the quarter as Taelour Pruitt drove in for a layup. The Golden Eagles reclaimed a one-point lead at 43-42 as Anna Walker hit the back end of a pair of free throws.
Diona Reed gave SEMO its last lead of the game on a layup with 7:31 remaining in the game with a 45-44 advantage, but Tech outscored the Redhawks 18-7 over the next 6:31 to reclaim a double-digit lead, reaching back out by as far as 12.
Pruitt was SEMO's only double-digit scorer, collecting 23 points on 9-of-21 shooting.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday as they travel to Clarksville for their final regular-season road game of the season, slated for 1:30 p.m.