COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Tech women's basketball will play its lone exhibition game on Tuesday against the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) at 6 p.m. in the Hooper Eblen Center as part of Purple Palooza.
Purple Palooza begins at 5 p.m. with trick-or-treating around the concourse. Tech will then take to the court against University of the Cumberlands at 6 p.m., before the Tech men's team will play their exhibition matchup against Bryan College to close out the evening.
The contest will mark the debut for six new Golden Eagles this season, including a pair of transfers in junior Windee Johnson and sophomore Grace Pelphrey, in addition to four true freshmen in Jada Guinn, Mackenzie Keelin, DJ McFarlane, and Maaliya Owens.
The Golden Eagles are coming off a 22-11 season that marked Tech's best season since the 2010-11 season and the third-largest turnaround in NCAA Division I last season. It also marked the Golden Eagles first post-season berth since the 2011-12 season and the program's second-ever appearance in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI).
Tech returns numerous key pieces from the Golden Eagles impressive 2018-19 campaign. Atop that list is seniors Akia Harris and Anacia Wilkinson.
Harris led the Golden Eagles in assists last season with 140 and tied for third in steals with 34 on the season. She was Tech's fourth-best scorer last season, averaging nine points per game. Wilkinson had a career junior campaign last season. She not only led the team last year in blocks, but obliterated the previous school record of blocks in a season (61) with 92 (2.78 bpg) during the 2018-19 campaign. She also finished second on the team in field goal percentage (.500) and averaged 7.9 points per game for the Golden Eagles.
Juniors Jordan Brock, Kesha Brady, Abby Buckner, and Mackenzie Coleman also highlight Tech's returning cast of impact players.
Brock led the Golden Eagles in scoring last season, averaging 11.5 points per contest. She also scored a team-high 79 made 3-pointers and produced a team-high .868 free throw percentage. Brady finished the season as Tech's second-leading scorer and the only other Golden Eagle to average double-digits with 10.2 points per game. She also finished the season ranked 35th in Division I and second on the team in free throw percentage, making .853 percent of her shots from the line. Buckner finished second on the team in steals (36) and third on the team in rebounds (4.7 rpg) last season. Coleman missed the beginning of Tech's 2018-19 campaign due to an injury, but finished second on the team in blocks (17) and free throw percentage (.867) and scored 192 points (6.3 ppg) last season.
The Patriots are coming off a 14-17 2018-19 campaign and have won four-straight to being their 2019-20 season. Cumberlands (Ky.) returns a trio of seniors and sophomores that combined for 29.6 points and 16.1 rebounds per contest last season. The Patriots welcome 10 newcomers, which includes a trio of community college transfers from Mozambique, four true freshmen, and three redshirt freshmen.
Following Tuesday's exhibition, Tech will open its regular season in Cookeville on November 5 as the Golden Eagles host Cumberland (Tenn.) in the Hooper Eblen Center. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m.
