By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team was clicking on all cylinders on Thursday night as the Golden Eagles dominated visiting SIUE, claiming an 81-42 victory at the Hooper Eblen Center.
Tech improves to 11-6 overall, 9-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
"I'm really proud of the effort and discipline the girls showed tonight, especially after coming off a really emotional win on Saturday (over UT Martin)," said Tech head coach Kim Rosamond. "They showed intensity with the way they just came out , did their job and just played extremely hard. There were a lot of good things tonight."
Sophomore Maaliya Owens had a career night, setting new marks in scoring with 19 points and rebounds with seven. She was 7-for-15 from the floor and 5-for-12 from 3-point range as she led all scorers.
"She just had a tremendous all-around game tonight," Rosamond said. "She had seven rebounds and that's been an area of emphasis for her and she did a great job with that."
Tech also had two others score in double digits as Anna Jones scored 12 points and Jordan Brock added 11. Sophomore Jada Guinn flirted with a triple-double in her 20 minutes of action, collecting six points, seven rebounds and six assists before the game got out of reach for the visitors.
The Golden Eagles were able to slow down one of the conference's best offensive rebounding teams, holding SIUE to six offensive boards and three second-chance points. Tech also controlled the glass by a wide margin, outrebounding the Cougars 48-29.
"I loved our effort on the boards tonight," Rosamond said. "If you ever want to know about effort, just look at that rebounding column. We outrebounded a very athletic team and the best offensive rebounding team in the league. That's just outstanding."
Moving the ball around was also Tech's forte in the victory as the Golden Eagles collected 23 assists to SIUE's eight.
Defensively, Tech held SIUE to 28.8 percent shooting from the floor as the Cougars were 15-for-52 from the field, including 2-for-13 from long range. SIUE was 10-for-18 from the free-throw line, one of the few statistics the Cougars won the night on as Tech was just 1-for-3 at the line.
The first quarter was a little close for comfort for the Golden Eagles as Tech took a 14-11 lead after the first 10 minutes. The defense stepped up in the second quarter though as SIUE did not score until the last 90 seconds before intermission as the Cougars scored just three points. Tech led 33-14 at the half, buoyed by a 19-0 run.
SIUE was juat 1-for-14 from the field in the second quarter, shooting 7.1 percent, while the Golden Eagles were 7-for-12 for a 58.3-percent clip.
For the second straight game, Tech put together 32 points in a single period, and during the third-quarter stretch, the Golden Eagles weren't missing much. Tech finished the quarter 13-for-21 from the floor and 6-for-12 from beyond the arc to put the game well beyond reach.
In the second half, Tech was able to get valuable minutes from several of the younger players, including a 4-for-5 night for freshman Madison Brady, who put up eight points and two rebounds, and a 2-for-2 night for D.J. McFarlane with four points.
The Cougars had no scorers in double figures as the trio of Ajulu Thatha, Allie Troeckler and Tori Handley led the way with six points each.
Tech returns to action Saturday as the Golden Eagles host Eastern Illinois. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
