By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – By the time Tennessee Tech hosts the Morehead State women on Saturday night, it will be a month since the two teams squared off, but the Golden Eagles hope to make that earlier game a memory of the distant past.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. from the Hooper Eblen Center. Dylan Vazzano and Rob Schabert will provide the call on ESPN+ (subscription required), while Roger Ealey will deliver the action on 106.1 The Eagle.
Saturday's game is Senior Night with the Golden Eagle seniors honored during the evening.
But back on January 24, it was a tough night for the Tech women as Morehead State claimed the 77-56 victory. The game saw the Golden Eagles post their second-worst shooting percentage of the season with a 29.2-percent effort (though Tech had a worse night on Feb. 7 at Southeast Missouri). In the second quarter alone, Tech was 1-for-17 from the floor as Morehead outscored the Golden Eagles 16-3 to take a 37-26 lead at halftime.
The shooting numbers were rough as Tech hit 19 of its 65 shots at Johnson Arena, including 9-of-23 from beyond the arc and even an uncharacteristically below-average night at the charity stripe, going 9-for-14.
Jordan Brock was the only player to break into double-digit scoring with 13 points, but Abby Buckner and Kesha Brady were on the verge with nine points each.
Still, where Tech struggled, Morehead picked up the slack, shooting 60 percent in the opening quarter, 53.3 in the third and 52.9 in the final period for a 49.2-percent effort through the contest. The homestanding Eagles also outscored Tech 40-16 in the paint.
Aliyah Jeune came off the bench to score a game-high 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including six 3-pointers, while starters Miranda Crockett (20) and McKenzie Calvert (10) also reached double-digit scoring tallies. Tierra McGowan also made the night miserable for the Golden Eagles, blocking seven shots in the contest – Morehead finished with a total of 11 blocks.
Coming into the contest, Morehead is the No. 2 scoring offense in the league, averaging 77.8 points per game, while Tech, in fourth, has a slight gap at 71.1. Defensively, it's a slightly different story according to the conference numbers as the Golden Eagles are fifth in scoring defense, allowing 64.5 points per game, while Morehead is sixth, allowing 67.2 points a night.
What isn't a surprise is Saturday visitors lead the conference in blocks by a far margin with 154. Tech, in fifth, has 111 – just eight from tying Jacksonville State and UT Martin in second. Morehead State is also second in the OVC in steals with 312 – an average of 11.1 per game – trailing UT Martin by one. Tech is 10th – 176 for a 6.8 average.
Crockett (17.5 ppg) and Jeune (17.4 ppg) are the No. 2 and 3 scorers in the league, while Tech's top scorer – Brock – is tied for 13th with 12.3 ppg. Numbers can be deceiving though as Tech has been able to dish the ball around and balance the scoring effort.
So what's at stake in this game, especially as the regular season is drawing to a close? The Golden Eagles, with an 11-4 record in league play, find themselves this morning in sole possession of second place – UT Martin and Morehead State one game back at 10-5.
Three losses to close out the season could conceivably knock Tech down to sixth place in the standings, but that is a worst-case scenario. A win over Morehead State, as well as next week's games against SIUE and Eastern Illinois, and Tech is all but assured the No. 2 seed in the OVC Women's Basketball Championship presented by Visit Evansville in two weeks in Evansville, Ind. And that takes care of the best-case.
Still with three games remaining to play, there's still a lot that could happen to affect the standings – as shown by UT Martin's 76-73 loss at Murray State and Morehead State's 68-57 loss at Jacksonville State on Thursday night.
