By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—The Tech women's basketball tem (3-6) claimed a victory at home over Northern Kentucky (2-5) on Sunday evening in the Hooper Eblen Center. The Golden Eagles topped the Norse 55-40 in the night's matchup.
"It's great to be back at home in front of our home crowd," head coach Kim Rosamond said. "Obviously, it's been a long two weeks on the road so anytime you can get back in your home gym, you want to perform at a high level. I think we really showed that on the defensive end. I thought our effort was extremely strong on the defensive end as was our communication and our intensity."
Asia Harper was the first to score in the game with a layup at the 8:17 mark. Tech pulled ahead to 7-0 by the first media timeout with a jumper from Treyvonna "Trey" Brooks. NKU notched then notched their first bucket of the game with a three from Taryn Taugher with 2:21 left to go in the quarter. The Golden Eagles closed the first quarter with a 9-5 lead over the Norse.
Northern Kentucky pulled within three points of Tech (12-9) with two at the free throw line from Hayley Combs at the 7:35 mark. However, the Golden Eagles went on a 6-2 run to take a seven-point lead at 18-11 with a layup from Anacia Wilkinson at the 5:38 mark. From there, the Golden Eagles furthered their lead to 20-16 with a jumper from Brooks with 2:46 to go in the quarter, before closing out the first half with a 22-18 lead over the Norse.
At the half, Tech were shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 40 percent from the three-point range, while Northern Kentucky was shooting 24 percent from the floor and 28.6 percent from downtown. The Golden Eagles forced nine Norse turnovers, while allowing 11 and both squads corralled 18 off the glass.
"We were a little slow getting into our offense in the first half," Rosamond continued. "We talked about improving our sense of urgency at the half and I think we came out executed that. I was really proud of our kids. I thought it was a really good win today."
Yaktavia "Shug" Hickson started off the third quarter strong with a layup at the 9:43 and 6:59 marks to extend the Tech lead to 28-20. A Books layup with 4:10 to go in the quarter brought the Golden Eagles up by 13 at 35-22. Later on in the quarter, a Hannah Goolsby three-pointer at the 1:48 mark pushed Tech's lead to 40-27 before the Golden Eagles closed out the third quarter with a 42-29 advantage.
Tech kept the momentum going into the fourth as a Brooks' layup at the 6:09 mark brought the score to 50-33. The Norse attempted to stage a comeback going on a 7-5 run, however, their efforts came up short as Tech topped Northern Kentucky 55-40.
Goolsby led the Golden Eagles with 12 points and four boards in the contest. Brooks and Akia Harris each put up 10 points for the Tech squad, while Brooks added six boards (game-high) and Harris added three assists and three steals to the victory. Kelley Wiegman led the Norse with 10 points, while teammate Rebecca Lyttle totaled eight points and one block.
The Golden Eagles shot 42.6 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 100 percent from the line, while the Norse shot 34.1 percent from the floor, 20 percent from the three-point range, and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe.
Tech will take a week break of games and then return to action on Sunday, Dec. 11 when the Golden Eagles host East Tennessee State in a 2 p.m. contest at the Hooper Eblen Center.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
