By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
MARTIN, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team broke out of its recent slump with what might have been its best showing of the season on Saturday against UT Martin, outlasting the Skyhawks 80-76 behind career days from Mackenzie Coleman and Kesha Brady, and an exceptional game from Kentoria Alexander.
Tech improved to a 17-6 record with the victory, and separated itself from UTM in the Ohio Valley Conference standings, taking sole possession of third place with a 9-3 ledger.
The 17 overall wins are the most the program has seen since it recorded 19 in 2012-13, and the nine league wins ties the mark put up by the 2013-14 squad.
"What a gutsy, tough win for these kids," said head coach Kim Rosamond. "Our confidence and our swagger were hurt a little bit after probably our worst performance of the year against (Southeast Missouri), but we met Friday morning and regrouped, and I can't say enough about the resiliency and toughness they showed today."
In a game characterized by scoring runs from both teams, Brady was the star of the Golden Eagle offense in the first half, while Coleman and Alexander led the way over the second 20 minutes.
Brady, who played a career-high 39 minutes in her first start of the season, brought tremendous energy in the first quarter, scoring 11 of the team's 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting and 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
She added four more in the second quarter for a first-half total of 15, and collected eight in the second half for a career-high 23 points on the afternoon.
"I can't say enough about Kesha Brady – especially early (in the game)," Rosamond said. "It was vital that we got off to a solid start today, and I thought our entire team fed off the confidence she had early on."
Trailing 19-15 at the end of one, TTU went on its first run of the ballgame, outscoring Martin 14-2 over the first three minutes of period two to take a 29-21 lead. Lacy Cantrell came off the bench to help fuel that spurt, where she scored all seven of her points in the contest.
UT Martin outscored TTU 15-7 over the remainder of the half to take a 36-35 lead at the break, which set the stage for the emergence of Coleman and Alexander.
Trailing by five, 49-44, with four minutes left in quarter No. 3, Tech mounted the run that defined the game.
Led by eight points from Coleman, the Golden Eagles owned the rest of the third stanza, scoring the final 15 points in a row to take a 59-49 lead, their second-largest of the game.
"We got back to answering runs," Rosamond said. "We made runs, and then they would go on a run, and then we would come back from that one. We had a response to every big run that they had."
Coupled with her seven first-half points, Coleman blew up for 12 in the third quarter and seven more in the fourth for a career-high 26. The sophomore's versatility proved to be too much for the Skyhawks, as she sizzled from all over the floor with a career-high 11 made field goals on 13 attempts (.846).
Coleman routinely made UTM pay for leaving her open at the 3-point line, connecting on 4-of-5 from downtown – also a career high.
It was the first 20-point game of the season for the Edmonton, Ky. native, who also ripped down a team-high 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the year.
"That version of Mackenzie Coleman is absolutely the Mackenzie Coleman that we love to see, and that our fans love to see," Rosamond said. "I'm just really proud of her. Before the game, she said that she was going to be the toughest post player on the floor today, and I thought she was that."
All of the TTU superlatives would have been for naught if it wasn't for Alexander's efforts in the final period.
The senior scored the team's first five points in the fourth quarter, which helped keep them above water while UTM stormed back with its resurgent full-court pressure.
Martin's fourth-quarter tenacity brought them back into a 70-70 tie with three minutes left, which was when Coleman buried her biggest triple of the game to restore a three-point Tech lead.
From there, Alexander's leadership carried TTU home. She accounted for her team's final seven points, as she set up Coleman for a lay-up to make it 75-70, then added two more of her own on a jump shot in the paint, before knocking down a cold-blooded 3-pointer with 21.5 seconds left that effectively sealed it for the Purple and Gold.
"She played 38 minutes today, and that is a big load to bear," Rosamond said. "There's a lot of pressure on you when you're asked to handle the basketball for almost the entire game, especially when you're without your other point guard and you're up against a team that presses and traps the way Martin does."
"You want to talk about a senior stepping up, Kentoria stepped up in every way today. Her leadership, her scoring, her defense – she had to guard one of their best players in (Emanye) Robertson. That in itself was a huge challenge, but she did it at a very, very high level today, and I think it helped inspire her teammates."
Alexander assembled yet another signature box-score-stuffing day, recording her fifth game this season with at least eight rebounds, to go with a team-high seven assists.
Those seven helpers contributed to Tech's total of 19 for the game, its highest total since a season-high 25 against EIU on Jan. 12.
While the Golden Eagles only visited the free-throw line 11 times in the contest, they buried them all, achieving perfection from the charity stripe for the first time this year.
Tech dominated the glass as well, outrebounding Martin 42-30. The plus-12 margin was their second-best this year, falling just short of the plus-13 mark from the season-opener against Cumberland.
In addition to the seven points from Cantrell, Jordan Brock scored four, Abby Buckner had three with a career-high five assists, and Anacia Wilkinson chipped in two points with five rebounds.
"This was huge today, especially considering the circumstances," said Rosamond of beating a top-four league team on the road. "The way we responded today, without one of our key players, is exactly what we preach as a part of the S.O.A.R. culture of our program. You can't control the things that happen to you, and you can't let the situation dictate your behavior. You can only control your attitude and your response, and I thought our kids had an unbelievably positive response today."
Tech has now seen all of the other 11 OVC members during league play, and will begin its four-game homestand next week with a pair of rematches against Jacksonville State (Thursday) and Belmont (Saturday).
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
