By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – They say the waiting is the hardest part, but the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team is taking advantage of the first-round bye as the Golden Eagles get set to hit the road to the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championships.
While play kicks off Wednesday in the postseason event, the Golden Eagles will face the winner of Tennessee State vs. SIUE, who tip off at 3:30 p.m.
Tech's first game of the tournament will be the quarterfinals on Thursday, slated to tip off at 3:30 p.m. from the Ford Center in Evansville.
Dylan Vazzano and Frank Harrell will handle the broadcast duties on 106.1 The Eagle, while Connor Onion and Teresa Phillips will cover the women's tournament on ESPN+ (subscription required).
Tech (19-9, 13-5 OVC) finished third in the OVC regular season, while Little Rock (20-9, 17-1 OVC) won the regular-season title and Eastern Illinois (21-7, 14-4 OVC) finished second. The Golden Eagles defeated every team but the Trojans at least once during the conference slate, but did score the most points against Little Rock's vaunted defense in a 66-63 slugfest in the Eblen Center.
The Golden Eagles defeated SIUE twice – 85-70 on December 29 in Edwardsville and 89-62 in Cookeville on January 26. In the first meeting, Tech had five double-digit scorers with Maaliya Owens and Reghan Grimes each scoring 16 to pace the Golden Eagles. Sofie Lewis and Ajula Thatha led the Cougars with 22 and 20 points respectively in the losing effort.
SIUE shot 29.8 percent at the Eblen Center in the second meeting, with Thatha scoring 20 points – half of them at the free-throw line. Tech combined for 108 points in the paint in the two contests.
Tech took the first meeting against Tennessee State 83-76 in Cookeville as Jada Guinn scored 24 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the floor and from the charity stripe, while Owens added 21 and Grimes 17. Tech was missing Grimes in the second meeting as the freshman guard from Nashville had a death in the family, while Tennessee State lost sophomore Gia Adams to a second-half injury in the first affair.
The Golden Eagles lost the second contest 81-72, despite having four players scoring in double-digits. The Lady Tigers outrebounded Tech 48-29 in the second game, including 21 offensive caroms. TSU also went 23-for-33 at the free-throw line as Erica Haynes-Overton drew six fouls and went 7-for-7 at the line to lead the squad en route to 21 points.
Tech enters play in its 38th OVC Tournament out of 42 total with a 48-28 record all-time in the event. The Golden Eagles are 0-1 against SIUE in the OVC Tournament, while have a 3-2 record against Tennessee State in the postseason event. The Cougars are 6-7 all-time in the tournament, while the Lady Tigers are 10-17.
The Golden Eagles are looking for their league-best 10th OVC Tournament title, but the first since the 1999-2000 campaign.
Owens, a first-team All-OVC selection, leads Tech in scoring with 14.7 points per game and set a new senior-season record In 3-pointers with 80 and still counting. She leads the conference in 3-pointers made and attempted, while the NCAA recognizes her as the conference leader in percentage as the top two shooters in the league are from Southern Indiana and Lindenwood – both reclassifying into Division I.
Guinn, a second-team All-OVC pick, is averaging 10.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.7 steals and leads the conference in field goal percentage, shooting .583 from the floor as well as .708 from the charity stripe.
Grimes is Tech's leading rebounder, pulling down 5.6 rebounds.
Outside of Little Rock's 12-game winning streak and Southeast Missouri's current six-game run, the Golden Eagles enter the tournament with a four-game winning streak after topping Southern Indiana and Eastern Illinois on the road this past weekend. Tech has won six of its last seven games.
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
