GAME NOTES: vs. Southeast Missouri (PDF)
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – How things change in just a matter of time. The last time Tennessee Tech and Southeast Missouri faced off in women's basketball, the Cookeville and Putnam County area was hardly 48 hours removed from a devastating tornado. A week later, the COVID-19 pandemic made its early moves into our normal day-to-day routine and things have hardly been the same since.
Now, over nine months later, the two teams take each other again as Ohio Valley Conference action fills out the rest of the Golden Eagle slate. Tipoff Wednesday is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Wednesday at the Hooper Eblen Center.
Roger Ealey will provide the radio call for 106.1 The Eagle, while Buddy Pearson and Michael Cooper will broadcast the action on ESPN+ (subscription required).
Tech (3-1, 1-0 OVC) comes into the game Wednesday on a three-game winning streak, knocking off Jacksonville State in the OVC opener, then taking care of Western Carolina and Western Kentucky before taking off for the Christmas holiday. SEMO (2-4, 0-1), however, has fallen in three of its last four, including a 61-58 loss to UT Martin in its last outing on December 18.
That doesn't mean the Golden Eagles have forgotten about that game on March 5 in Evansville, Ind. It was a battle in the OVC Tournament opener as Tech and SEMO fought to a 37-34 Redhawk lead at halftime. The Golden Eagles inched out to a 60-53 advantage after three, then led by 10 with just over seven minutes left in regulation but SEMO stormed back.
However, Tech went silent at the worst possible time, allowing the Redhawks to go on a 10-point run. The Golden Eagles answered back with another 6-2 spurt, but SEMO responded, knotting the game at 73 with 31 seconds left. Mackenzie Coleman got the ball with just four ticks remaining, and with no option available inside, attempted a 3-pointer, missing as time ran out on regulation.
Tech led for most of the overtime period. With 15 seconds remaining, Abby Buckner sank a free throw to make it an 81-79 game, but Taelor Pruitt got the ball and drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Redhawks an 82-81 victory.
Tesia Thompson was a one-woman wrecking crew for SEMO as she collected 29 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Coleman nearly matched her point-for-point, board-for-board, coming away with 28 points and nine rebounds. Jordan Brock and Kesha Brady each had 16 and 15 points respectively.
It wasn't the end of SEMO's heroics that weekend as the Redhawks stunned No. 2-seeded Belmont 114-99, then toppled top-seed UT Martin 67-47 to earn the OVC title and berth to the NCAA Women's Tournament – an invite the Redhawks would be unable to accept as the pandemic wiped out the event.
Fast forward to today and the Redhawks' lineup is different. Thompson and Pruitt return and continue to be the biggest driving forces in the lineup, but last year's squad was a senior-laden team. SEMO has reloaded well, and even though the record stands at 2-4, the Redhawks have played a difficult slate with losses to No. 5-ranked Louisville, Eastern Michigan, Southern Illinois and UT Martin.
The game against the Skyhawks is interesting as SEMO fell by just three points. Pruitt cut the game down to a 43-41 deficit with a layup at the third-quarter buzzer, erasing a double-digit deficit just three minutes earlier. UTM climbed back out by seven, but Roshala Scott hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to climb back into the one-possession final score.
Entering Wednesday's game, Thompson is averaging 18.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, while Pruitt is adding 10.2 points and 3.0 boards. LaTrese Saine is just outside the double-digit scoring average with 9.5 points a game and 6.7 rebounds as well.
Tech could also see a couple of milestones broken on Wednesday. Brock needs five 3-pointers made to break assistant coach Allison Clark's career mark of 225. Her career-high is eight in a contest, and made four in the last contest against Western Kentucky. Brady, meanwhile, needs 14 points to become the 32nd Tech women's basketball player to score 1,000 points in a career. With a 20.3 point average, that mark also looks to be surpassed this week.
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Photo | Maxey Parham, TTU Video Production
