By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech's seniors put on a show Saturday as the Golden Eagles picked up an important victory at the Eblen Center, securing at least the No. 3-seed and a first-round bye in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament in Evansville with a 74-63 victory over UT Martin.
Two games remain in the regular season. Little Rock clinched at least a share of the regular-season title with a victory Saturday over Eastern Illinois – and the Golden Eagles (17-9, 11-5 OVC) could technically tie Eastern Illinois with two Tech wins and two EIU losses, but the Panthers would have the tiebreaker by virtue of beating Little Rock, the top-seeded team.
Southeast Missouri (8-8) can not catch the Golden Eagles with Tech three games ahead and currently hold the No. 4-seed, while Tennessee State, UT Martin and SIUE are all tied for fifth at 7-9. Morehead State (6-10) would presently be the final seed with Southern Indiana the outlier, a game back of MSU.
Maaliya Owens and Jordan Brock had big scoring performance with Owens collecting 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting and five 3-pointers, while Brock scored 15 as she was 4-for-5 from the floor and 3-for-4 from long range.
Jada Guinn may not have scored a lot of points, but she helped run the offense, collecting eight of the Golden Eagles' 21 assists.
Brock, Guinn, DJ McFarlane, Owens and manager Ben Trosper were honored following the contest Saturday.
Tech came out and took the wind out of the Skyhawks' sails with a few runs to outscore UTM 22-10 through the first 10 minutes. The Golden Eagles were 7-for-12 in the opening period, but both teams peppered the basket from beyond the arc. Tech ended the game shooting 11-for-22 from 3-point range for a 50-percent clip, while UTM was 8-for-29, 27.6-percent.
Another run in the second quarter pushed the Golden Eagles out to a 20-point lead midway through the session, but the Sjyhawks kept pushing back cutting the deficit back within 12 before halftime, within eight in the third quarter before Tech extended the lead back to 17 and back within seven with 44 seconds remaining in the contest.
Paige Pipkin, who did not face the Golden Eagles in the previous meeting between the two teams back on January 7, led the Skyhawks (11-16, 5-9) with 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting and 5-for-7 beyond the arc. Sharnecce Currie-Jelks, who was injured after scoring five points in the last meeting, had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Seygan Robins scored 14 points.
UTM controlled the offensive rebounds, collecting 13 to Tech's three, but the Skyhawks were only able to manage six second-chance points. UT Martin led the rebounding numbers 33 to 27.
Tech also used the free-throw line to great effect. Drawing 18 fouls, the Golden Eagles garnered 20 shots at the stripe, hitting 17. The Skyhawks were 11-for-14.
The Golden Eagles close out the regular season on the road next week as they head to Evansville to take on Southern Indiana on Thursday, then finish out the schedule with a visit to Eastern Illinois. The following week, Tech will head back to Evansville for the OVC Tournament at the Ford Center.
Photo | Emily Armstrong
