By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information
CINCINNATI, Ohio—The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team (2-6) closed out their four-game road stand against Cincinnati (6-1) Friday night at the Fifth-Third Arena. The Bearcats topped the Golden Eagles 60-38 in the evening's action.
"Defensively I thought the effort was there," head coach Kim Rosamond said. "I don't think the final is indicative to how hard we played. It's really hard to win games when you shoot 23 percent from the floor. We struggled on the offensive end, and just weren't able to finish."
After a three minute scoring drought to open the game, a Tech foul sent Cincinnati's Ana Owens to the line to knock down two-of-two for the Bearcats. Cincinnati then went on a 5-0 run to take a 7-0 lead with 6:17 remaining in the quarter. After a Golden Eagle timeout, a Bearcat foul sent Treyvonna "Trey" Brooks to the charity stripe to connect on two-of-two and tally Tech's first points of the game with 5:10 to go. Hannah Goolsby got the Golden Eagle's first and only bucket from the field of the quarter, hitting one from downtown at the 3:53 mark to cut the Cincinnati lead down to 9-5. The Bearcats added three more points to close out the quarter with a 12-5 advantage.
Harris opened the second quarter strong for the Golden Eagles connecting on 1-of-2 from the free throw line and then knocking down a three to cut the Bearcat lead down to 12-9 at the 8:37 mark. Tech then pulled within one point of Cincinnati, 14-13, at the 7:08 mark with a Brooks' layup, however, the Bearcats quickly responded and knocked down a three at the 6:52 mark and extend their lead back out to 17-13 over the Golden Eagles. The Bearcats then closed out the second quarter with a 10-4 run to lead 27-17 at the half.
At the half, Tech was shooting 24 percent from the floor, 25 percent from the three-point range, and 75 percent from the line while Cincinnati was shooting 29.6 percent from the field, 50 percent from downtown, and 87.5 percent from the charity stripe. The Bearcats forced 12 Golden Eagle turnovers, while allowing just nine and grabbed 20 rebounds to Tech's 17.
Brooks recorded the first points of the third quarter with a layup at the 9:17 mark (27-19). Harris then knocked down a jumper and a layup to cut the Cincinnati lead down to six at 29-23 with 7:06 remaining in the quarter. The Bearcats then closed out the third quarter with a 15-7 run to extend their lead out to 44-30.
A jumper from Cincinnati's Chelsea Warren at the 7:23 mark furthered the Bearcat lead to 49-34 in the fourth quarter. Heading into the latter part of the quarter, Goolsby hit one from downtown with 3:12 to go in the game bringing the score to 54-37 in favor of Cincinnati. The Bearcats then closed out a victory with a 6-1 run to defeat the Golden Eagles 60-38.
Hannah Goolsby led Tech with 11 points, hitting 4-of-11 from the field including three three-pointers. Brooks came up just shy of a double-double with eight points and 11 boards, while teammate Akia Harris recorded nine points and Lindsey Jennings posted six points and nine boards. Nikira Goings led Cincinnati with 18 points and five boards, while two other Bearcats recorded 11 points (Owens and Warren).
Tech shot 23.3 percent from the field, 23.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 75 percent from the charity stripe while Cincinnati shot 33.9 percent from the floor, 52.9 percent from downtown, and 86.7 percent from the free throw line. The Bearcats forced 18 Golden Eagle turnovers while allowing just 15, they also corralled 43 rebounds to Tech's 38.
The Golden Eagles get right back into action on Sunday when they return home to host Northern Kentucky in a 2 p.m. contest at the Hooper Eblen Center.
Photo by Jim Dillon
