By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team looks forward to both the regular-season finale on Saturday against Murray State, as well as next week's Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championships in Evansville, Ind., it's also an opportunity for the Golden Eagles to look back and reflect on the senior members of the 2020-21 team and those wrapping up their Tech careers.
Abby Buckner, Taylor Lamb and manager Blake Ledbetter will be honored following Saturday's season finale against the Racers. The two players saw their Tech careers come to an end from injuries last year and were unable to compete this season. More on their role with the team this season and the adaptations they have made in their transition can be found here.
Even though there's a lot to celebrate on Saturday, there's still a lot to be decided on the court. Tipoff against the Racers is scheduled for 5 p.m. Roger Ealey will provide the radio call for 106.1 The Eagle, while Dylan Vazzano and Michael Cooper will handle broadcast duties on ESPN+ (subscription required).
Tech enters the game with a 14-8 record, 12-7 in OVC play and is looking for its 13th win of the season. The Golden Eagles have only recorded 11 seasons in program history with 13 or more conference wins.
So the OVC Tournament? The Tech women are in, no doubt about that as Eastern Illinois has locked up the No. 8-seed and can climb no higher. UT Martin and Belmont are in too, but they're locked into the top two spots. Between three through seven is still a complete mystery as so many pieces could fall into place over the course of the day, making the final day of the regular season an intriguing one.
Murray State has won its last three games, toppling Eastern Illinois 69-52, SIUE 68-60 and Jacksonville State in a 78-75 thriller. The Racers have won seven of their last 10 games since the last time the Golden Eagles squared off. In the last seven games, the lone loss to UT Martin was decided by a Chelsey Perry buzzer-beater for a 67-65 defeat.
The last meeting against the Golden Eagles was a game Murray would rather forget. Tech won the game 75-58, the largest margin of defeat for the Racers this season. Murray also lost by 16 at Kentucky and at SEMO. Katelyn Young, who has scored 20 or more points in the last three games and double digits in the last eight games, was held to four points against Tech. Macey Turley led the Racers with 22 points in the defeat.
Back on January 23, Tech outscored Murray 21-11 in the first quarter and never looked back, watching its lead balloon through the second and third quarters as the Racers chipped away slightly in the final 10 minutes as the Golden Eagle bench took over. Anna Jones led the way with 17 points, while Mackenzie Coleman added 15 points and Jada Guinn added 12.
Turley leads the team in scoring average with 17.2 points a game, while Young is averaging 14.2 points and a team-high 9.4 rebounds. The Racers are shooting .420 from the field, .764 from the line and .310 from long range. Murray State is averaging 70.9 points a game, while allowing 67.8 to opponents.
Tech, meanwhile, is averaging 67.2 points per game and allowing 61.6 to the opposing side. The Golden Eagles are shooting .429 from the floor, .323 from 3-point range and .753 from the charity stripe. Four players are averaging double-digit scoring with Kesha Brady (12.4), Anna Jones (10.8), Jordan Brock (10.5) and Mackenzie Coleman (10.5) leading the way, while Jada Guinn is close with a 9.0-point average. Jones leads the team in rebounds with a 6.1 average, followed by Coleman and Guinn with identical 6.0 averages.
Tech is 7-4 since playing the Racers, winning five of its last seven. The two losses came to Belmont last Saturday and on Tuesday.
However, it's only a mild speed bump as the Golden Eagles have won 12 league games, tied for the most in the Kim Rosamond era with the 2018-19 season.
