By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – It'll be a battle for second place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings on Thursday night as the Tennessee Tech women will enter uncharted territory for them as the Golden Eagles take on OVC newcomer Little Rock for the first time.
Tipoff from the Stephens Center is set for 5 p.m. Dylan Vazzano will have the call on 106.1 The Eagle, while Kyle Deckelbaum and Dorian Craft will handle broadcast duties on ESPN+ (subscription required).
Certainly, it's still early in the race as the conference sprint has only reached a third of the way through with plenty more to still be played, but the Golden Eagles (11-5, 5-1 OVC) find themselves knotted in the standings with the Trojans (8-9, 5-1 OVC) after Little Rock dropped a low-scoring 44-33 affair at Eastern Illinois on Saturday.
The Panthers still find themselves on top of the charts at the moment with an unblemished 6-0 mark, 14-3 overall on the season. With the Golden Eagles and the Trojans grappling for second, there's a little separation starting to form as UT Martin and SIUE are tied for fourth at 3-3 – two games back from Tech and Little Rock and three back from EIU. Southern Indiana, Southeast Missouri, Tennessee State and Morehead State are in a logjam for sixth – all at 2-4 in the league – while newcomer Lindenwood is still looking for its first OVC win at 0-6.
Little Rock entered conference play with a 3-8 record, but has since surged, winning five of its last six – its last outing against EIU breaking the string. The success can be attributed to the return of leading scorer Sali Kourouma, who was unavailable to play before the conference schedule started.
In her five games played, she has jumped to the top of the team scoring chart, averaging 17.0 points per game. Angelique Francis is also averaging double-digit scoring in conference play with 10.7 points a night. Across all games – Kourouma's numbers aside – freshman Faith Lee stands as the next leading scorer with a 9.3-point rate.
While Little Rock's offensive numbers may not be as impressive as others in the league – averaging 52.7 points per OVC game – the Trojans don't have to score big numbers as their defense is suffocating. In league play alone, the Trojans are allowing an average of 45.3 points per game, while forcing 119 turnovers (19.8 tpg), 51 steals (8.5 spg) and 24 blocks (4.0 bpg) as opponents are shooting .332, .278 from long-range and .707 from the line.
Fortunately, the Golden Eagles can play a little defense as well with Tech averaging 9.8 steals and 2.0 blocks. In conference play, Tech is averaging 72.0 points – the second-highest tally behind SIUE -- and allowing 58.2 – the third-best average behind Little Rock and UT Martin.
Tech currently has the conference's best scoring margin at a plus-13.8 mark, 2.8 points better than EIU. The Golden Eagles are also the OVC's best shooting team in league play with a .458 mark in field goal percentage, the second-best rebounding team with a 38.2-carom average (and allowing a league-best 29.5 average to opponents) and has the conference's best defense against 3-point shots, allowing a .247 shooting effort.
Three-pointers, however, aren't one of Little Rock's strengths. The Trojans are hitting .153 from long-range – 13-of-85 tries on the season, 6-of-38 in OVC play. Compare that to the Golden Eagles, who are 101-of-311 (.325) on the season and 36-of-109 (.330) for third in league competition.
Maaliya Owens had a big week last week, scoring a career-high 24 points against Morehead State, then another 21 against Tennessee State on Saturday to improve her in-conference scoring average to 15.0 points per game, which currently ranks sixth in the league, while Jada Guinn's 13.0-mark currently ranks 12th. Freshmen Reghan Grimes (9.8, 22nd) and Reagan Hurst (9.5, 25th) also rank among the OVC's top 30 scorers in league play.
Owens also currently leads the OVC in 3-point attempts (100), 3-pointers made (40) and 3-point percentage (40.0).
Following Thursday's game at Little Rock, the Golden Eagles will travel to Cape Girardeau to take on Southeast Missouri on Saturday. Tech will return home next week to host SIUE and get the return game against Little Rock. With the SIUE-Tech men's game selected as an OVC wild-card broadcast, the women's game against the Cougars will be pushed up to a 3 p.m. start.
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 | Jim Dillon
