By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With over 1,000 raucous kids from the Upper Cumberland in attendance, the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team outlasted UNC Asheville in Tuesday's matinee, 60-53, in a game that played out as a tale of two different halves.
"I thought our first half was as good as we've played all year," said head coach Kim Rosamond after saluting the home-court advantage created by the student population. "I didn't like the way (the game) ended, how they made it this close, but this is a quality, quality win over a very good basketball team in UNC Asheville."
From a defensive standpoint, the first half was arguably the best of Rosamond's tenure as TTU head coach.
The Golden Eagles had Asheville's offense entirely out of whack. The Bulldogs were forced into nine turnovers, had only one assisted field goal, were held to just 7-of-30 from the floor for a 23.3 field goal percentage, and were kept off the scoreboard for the final 4-minutes, 22-seconds of game action. By the time the horn sounded, UNCA had just 15 points, the lowest total Tech has allowed all season in a single half.
Tech supplemented its defense by shooting a healthy 44.8-percent from the floor through the first 20 minutes, and showed excellent balance with five players scoring at least five points.
"I thought we executed, we followed the game plan, and we defended – we held a really good ball club to 15 points," Rosamond said. "We have to get better. We have to learn to put four quarters together, but I thought that first half was our best one since the Middle Tennessee game."
Kentoria Alexander had a team-high eight points in the first half and played much bigger than her 5-foot, 7-inch frame with seven rebounds, while Anacia Wilkinson had five points and seven rebounds. Both players had a huge role in Tech's 24-16 rebounding advantage at the break.
The home team also scored 12 points off the nine UNCA turnovers, and recorded 11 bench points to Asheville's one.
Six of those first-half bench points came from Kesha Brady, who went on to score a team-high 14 on 5-of-8 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. It's the fifth time Brady has scored in double figures this season, and the third time she has led or co-led the offense.
"(Kesha) was big, especially when we were struggling in that third quarter," said Rosamond. "She had a different mentality today. She was really focused, and she looked like the Kesha Brady that we saw as a freshman. When she plays like that, she adds another dimension to this basketball team."
Akia Harris also had six points at the halftime break, and became the team's second double-digit scorer with a total of 12 for the contest.
Harris scored the first five points of the second half to swell the lead to 25 less than a minute in, but that was when Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick's Asheville team would make its move.
The Bulldogs used a 15-0 run over the next five and a half minutes to bring the deficit back to 10 points with well over a quarter remaining.
Tech only connected on two of its field goal attempts in the third quarter, but weathered the Asheville storm thanks to a 9-for-10 effort from the free throw line.
A terrific free-throw shooting team all season, TTU would go 21-of-25 from the charity stripe for the game, which made a significant difference when compared to UNCA's 5-for-10 mark.
Aiding Asheville's comeback bid were Tech's 22 turnovers in the contest. Rosamond acknowledged that her team has not performed well in that category as of late, and noted that it remains a point of emphasis going forward.
"We need to get back to valuing the basketball," she said. "The last three games our turnovers have been way too high, and we need to improve there before we get into our conference season."
A 13-point lead at the end of the third quarter would be enough to clinch the Tech victory over the final 10 minutes. Things got interesting when Asheville closed to within seven with just over four minutes to play, but a solid defensive effort and more clutch free-throw shooting salted it away for the Purple and Gold.
Alexander finished with eight points and eight rebounds, while Lacy Cantrell scored eight and grabbed four rebounds. Wilkinson tallied seven points and hauled down nine boards, Jordan Brock had five points, Abby Buckner had four points and eight caroms, and Taylor Lamb had two points.
"We're still in our process," Rosamond said. "We're by no means where we need to be, but I'm seeing growth, and I'm seeing us get better and better with every game."
Up next, Tech will make its first trip to Nashville this season when it takes on Lipscomb on Friday, Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. in the final game before the holiday break. After that, the schedule resumes Dec. 29 for TTU's last nonconference game against Tennessee Wesleyan.
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
