By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The second week of the Ohio Valley Conference slate is an intriguing one for the Tennessee Tech women's team as the Golden Eagles will entertain conference leader Eastern Illinois on Thursday night, then hit the road for a showdown at UT Martin on Saturday.
Thursday's game at the Hooper Eblen Center is Upper Cumberland Night as residents of Putnam County and the rest of the Upper Cumberland region will be able to receive half-off admission to the Eastern Illinois doubleheader.
Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The game will be available over the radio airwaves on 106.1 The Eagle, while the game will also be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required).
Eastern Illinois comes into the contest with a 10-3 record, winning its first six games in a row in decisive fashion over Missouri-St. Louis (65-54), Western Illinois (64-62), Valparaiso (73-67), Loyola Chicago (83-73), Chicago State (87-67) and Wright State (97-67).
The Panthers saw their streak end as Northern Illinois came into Lantz Arena and handed EIU its first loss of the season in a 71-69 decision. Bradley followed suit, topping the Panthers 72-61.
Since then EIU has won four of its last five games – the lone defeat a 59-48 loss at Minnesota – and won back-to-back OVC contests with a 75-62 victory over Lindenwood and a 69-58 win over Southern Indiana.
The Panthers, for the season as a whole, are averaging 70.7 points and allowing 63.2. They are averaging 37.2 rebounds, 15.9 assists, 8.5 steals and 2.5 blocks per game.
Lariah Washington leads EIU in scoring with a 19.2 clip, shooting .492 from the floor, .359 from 3-point range and .857 at the free-throw line. Macy McGlone, the Panthers' rebounding leader, is also averaging double-digit scoring at 10.5 ppg, while also pulling down an average of 6.9 boards a night. McGlone also leads the team in blocks with 16.
As a team, EIU is shooting .442, .292 from long-range with an average of 5.4 3-pointers per game, and .729 from the charity stripe with an average of 12.4 made free throws per game.
The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, come in with an 8-4 record, winning four of their last five games. The blemish came back during the Louisiana swing as Tech fell 71-49 to Tulane. The game is a misnomer though as Tech has played strong in the last five games.
In that span, Tech is averaging 74.8 points scored to 57.4 points allowed, forced 100 turnovers, collected 54 steals, outrebounded opponents on average of 38.4 to 32.0 (including 73 offensive boards) and dished out 89 assists. The Golden Eagles have shot .453 from the floor, .307 from long range and .718 at the line.
Tech also has three players scoring in double-digits in that five-game range with Maaliya Owens leading the way with 64 points, 12.8 per game. Reagan Hurst scored 55, 11.0 per game, and Jada Guinn scored 51, 10.2 per game.
The Golden Eagles also have to defend their home court as Tech has won eight straight games at the Eblen Center, including the last three home games from the 2021-22 campaign and the first five home games this season.
The last five games have also seen four decisive wins for the Golden Eagles with a 35-point victory over Tennessee Wesleyan, a 24-point victory over ULM, a 25-point win over SIUE and a 37-point win over Lindenwood.
For the season as a whole, Owens leads the Golden Eagles in scoring with a 12.5-point average, while Anna Walker is averaging 9.8, Hurst 9.2, Reghan Grimes 8.5 and Guinn 8.3. Grimes leads the team in rebounding with a 6.0-rebound average and Guinn is tops in assists with a 3.7-dime average.
Tech is shooting .423 from the floor, .320 from 3-point range and .735 at the stripe, averaging 6.3 treys and 12.3 made free throws a game.
Tickets for Tennessee Tech basketball are on sale now. Call (931) 372-3940, visit the Hooper Eblen Center ticket office or visit TTUsports.com to order.
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
