By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team nears the midway point of the Ohio Valley Conference schedule, the Golden Eagles will start to see some familiar faces as the OVC race begins to heat up with a month remaining in the regular season.
Tech (12-6, 6-2 OVC) will start its second go-round in the OVC on Thursday as SIUE comes into the Hooper Eblen Center.
Please note that Thursday's game is a 3 p.m. start time after the men's game was selected as a wild-card pick by ESPN to be broadcast nationwide on ESPNews. Roger Ealey and Frank Harrell will have the call on 106.1 The Eagle, while Dylan Vazzano and Michael Cooper will handle the broadcast on ESPN+ (subscription required).
It's also a promotion-filled contest as Thursday's 3-6 doubleheader is Academic Excellence Night (free admission for all K-12 students) as well as Tech Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night (free admission for all Tech faculty and staff members and their immediate family with a free voucher for a drink and hot dog or popcorn).
The Tech women's team also designated Thursday's game as its We Back Pat Night, supporting the Pat Summitt Foundation and its goal of raising awareness and research into Alzheimer's disease.
The Golden Eagles and the Cougars (6-13, 5-3 OVC) opened up OVC play back on Dec. 29. It seems like yesterday, but a lot has happened in nearly a month's time. Tech won the first meeting 85-70 to claim the program's 1,000th victory. Five Golden Eagles scored in double figures, led by Maaliya Owens and Reghan Grimes with 16 points each, while Jada Guinn had 14, Reagan Hurst 11 and Peyton Carter 10.
It was a tight affair through the first two quarters, but a 13-0 run in the third quarter allowed the Golden Eagles to outscore the Cougars 27-12 in the period as Tech finished the game with a 52.9-percent effort from the floor.
Sofie Lowis had 22 points to lead SIUE, while Ajulu Thatha had 10 rebounds.
Since that game, however, the Cougars have started to heat up. SIUE has won five of its seven games since, dropping a 79-59 decision at Southern Indiana and a 88-79 contest at Eastern Illinois as the other two blemishes.
In league play, SIUE stands as the top scoring offense in the conference, averaging 73 points a game. However, the Cougars are also last in the league in scoring defense, averaging 72.5 points a night.
Four SIUE players are scoring in double-digits in league play, led by Thatha with a 16.3-point rate, followed closely by Lowis at 16.0. Molly Sheehan averages 10.8 and K.K. Rodriguez stands at 10.1.
As a team in conference play, SIUE is shooting .424 from the field, .303 from long-range with an average of 5.5 3-pointers per game, and .735 from the free-throw line with an average of 18.8 charity tosses made per game.
As the standings go, SIUE stands a game back from the Golden Eagles with Eastern Illinois undefeated at 8-0, followed by Little Rock (7-1) and Tech (6-2). UT Martin broke away from the 3-5 logjam as the Skyhawks – along with Tennessee State – were awarded a forfeit victory as Lindenwood was unable to play its scheduled games this week with too few active players to meet the conference standard. With the forfeit, UTM is now a game-and-a-half back from SIUE, while Southern Indiana, Southeast Missouri and Morehead State all stand at 3-5, Tennessee State standing just percentage points away from that logjam. Lindenwood drops to 0-10 with the two forfeitures this week.
Tech has also won five of its seven games since facing the Cougars, but the Golden Eagles' two losses have come at the hands of the two teams atop the standings with Eastern Illinois winning 67-62 in the Eblen Center and Little Rock winning a home contest at Stephens Center last Thursday 61-45. Tech will see the Trojans again on Saturday.
As for stats in league play, the Golden Eagles are averaging 69.1 points a game and allowing an average of 60.3. Tech is shooting .436 from the field, .302 from 3-point range and .746 at the free-throw line, averaging 5.3 3-pointers and 12.9 made free throws a game. Tech retook the conference's top spot in 3-point defense, allowing an average of 3.1 treys per game on a .221 shooting percentage.
Owens leads the team in scoring in OVC play, averaging 13.8 points, while Guinn is close behind at 12.8. Grimes is close to the decade mark at 9.6, while Hurst is at 8.6. Carter leads the team on the glass with a 6.4-rebound average, while Guinn is averaging three assists and 2.4 steals per game to lead both categories.
Tickets for this weekend's games are on sale now – call (931) 372-3940, visit the Eblen Center ticket office or visit TTUsports.com.
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
