By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
MOREHEAD, Ky. – Tennessee Tech had to grind out a road win against one of the best defensive teams in the Ohio Valley Conference last Saturday in Jacksonville State, and will now go behind enemy lines once again – to face the league's best offensive team this time – when it visits Morehead State on Thursday afternoon at 4:05 CT.
MOREHEAD IN THE MIDDLE
Tech's matchup with Morehead State is the second of three straight road games for the Golden Eagles, who can pick up their seventh victory away from home this season.
If successful, it will be TTU's first win in its last four tries inside Morehead's Ellis T. Johnson Arena, a place it has not won since February 16, 2013.
GOING FOR 10
A win would be the 10th in a row for the Golden Eagles, which would equal the program's longest winning streak since 2010-11.
STIFLING DEFENSE
Tech limited Jacksonville State to 49 points on Saturday, the second time it has held an opponent under 50 this season. The Golden Eagles own the third-best scoring defense in the OVC at 61.4 points per game.
TTU's perimeter defense has been particularly strong all year, as it has surrendered a 3-point field goal percentage of just 25.9% to its opponents. That mark ranks second in the OVC, and 15th in the country.
FEELIN' IT
With a 3-of-4 mark from 3-point range on Saturday, Jordan Brock is up to 46.2 percent for the season, which slots her in at No. 9 in NCAA Division I. The Harlan, Ky. hoister has buried a scintillating 61 percent of her triple tries in six conference games, which is the highest of any sharpshooter with more than 25 attempts.
Scoring 20 points against JSU moved Brock's streak of games with double-digit points to eight in a row. The output also improved her scoring average over the league season to 19.3 per game, which is currently second best in the OVC.
Brock is the headliner for a Golden Eagle team that is currently leading the conference in 3-point field goal percentage at 35.7 percent, a clip that is 40th nationally.
SHOT SWATTER SUPREME
Anacia Wilkinson followed up her school-record-tying nine-block performance against Tennessee State with four more rejections versus Jacksonville State, which elevates her to a No. 5 national ranking with 52 on the season.
BOOST ON THE BOARDS
In addition to her reputable work as a rim protector, Wilkinson has also stepped up her rebounding efforts as of late. She has led the Golden Eagles, and recorded at least nine boards in each of the last four games. Those numbers have increased the Houston native's average to 8.2 per game in conference play, which ranks sixth in the OVC.
NEUTRAL SITE UP NEXT
Following the Morehead State game, Tech will play Eastern Kentucky at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Ky., a site approximately 40 miles north of the EKU campus in Richmond. The alternate site was chosen because of a scheduling conflict at the Colonels' Alumni Coliseum. Tip time is 3:30 p.m. CT.
MOREHEAD STATE PROFILE
Morehead State is one of the original members of the Ohio Valley Conference for women's basketball, and has compiled a 286-332 record since the first season, 1977-78.
Morehead has never won an OVC regular-season championship, but claimed a conference tournament title in 1979. It has finished as the league runner-up in five different seasons, including most recently in 2016-17.
The Eagles are 13-6 so far this season, with a 4-2 mark in the conference. Coach Greg Todd's team has been tough to beat at home this year with a record of 8-1, and has found success behind its high-powered offense, which leads the OVC and ranks ninth in Division I in points per game (82.5).
Morehead State's offensive efficiency shows up all over the league rankings, as the Eagles are No. 1 in field goal percentage (.452), assists per game (17.5), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2), and turnover margin (+6.47).
MSU is paced by the No. 1 and No. 3 scorers in the OVC, Aliyah Jeune and Miranda Crockett, who average 19.3 and 17.9 points per game, respectively. Jeune's mark ranks 36th nationally.
Jeune, who has been used primarily off the bench, has hoisted a league-high 143 3-pointers this year, and has connected on 52 of them for a 36.4% clip. She ranks third on the team in field goal percentage (.429) and rebounding (5.7 per game).
Crockett owns a .502 rate from the field, which is No. 6 in the OVC, and averages 7.1 rebounds per contest, which ranks 10th. She also leads the conference in minutes per game at 33.6.
Forward Tierra McGowan leads the team and is sixth in the OVC in rebounding with 8.0 per game, while Mckenzie Calvert, who averages 11.4 points per game, has the Eagles' No. 1 FG percentage, .519, which is fourth-best in the league. McGowan also leads the conference in offensive rebounds per game with 4.0.
Guard Crystal Simmons-Cozar leads MSU in assists (3.8 pg) and steals (2.3 pg). Her steals average is No. 2 in the OVC.
SERIES NOTES
Tech has a 59-27 record against Morehead State over 86 all-time meetings, which makes it the fourth longest-running series in TTU history.
The series remained fairly even over its first 19 encounters with Tech maintaining a 12-7 advantage.
Then, beginning with a matchup on March 3, 1987, Tech won 28 of their next 31 dates with the Eagles through the 2002 season. The average margin of victory in those 31 wins was 18.5 points.
The series has seen almost a perfect split in the 33 meetings since then, with Morehead holding a 17-16 advantage leading up to present day.
Kim Rosamond will be eyeing her first victory over Morehead State as Tennessee Tech head coach. She came close in both games last year, falling 74-67 in the Eblen Center on Dec. 28, 2017, and 53-51 in a heartbreaker in Johnson Arena on Jan. 20, 2018.
Mackenzie Coleman played very well in both of those tilts, as she averaged 14.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 5 blocks and 2 steals per contest.
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Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
