By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Overwhelming support from the fans, community and the University welcomed Tennessee Tech to Cookeville's Midtown Social on Sunday night as the Golden Eagle women's basketball team waited to see who they would be playing in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.
Tech didn't have to wait long as the Golden Eagles were one of the earliest matchups announced on the selection show, picked to compete against Monmouth in one of the First Four contests. Game times have not been set as of Sunday night, but the game will be Thursday night at Indiana's Assembly Hall.
The winners will take on the No. 1-seeded Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday in the tournament's first round.
It is Tennessee Tech's first visit to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament since the 1999-2000 campaign, and a few of those players – as well as that team's head coach Bill Worrell – were in attendance as the Golden Eagles were surrounded by a few hundred of their closest friends and supporters.
The Golden Eagles defeated Little Rock last week in the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championships and earned the conference's automatic bid. This is the second season the NCAA has employed the First Four format in the women's tournament after expanding the field to 68 teams, similar to how the men's field expanded in 2011.
The Monmouth Hawks won the Colonial Athletic Conference championship earlier Sunday as they -- as the No. 7-seed -- defeated top-seeded Towson 80-55 in Towson, Md. It's the Hawks' first appearance in the NCAA field since 1983 and have won five straight games as they closed out the regular season with a victory over Stony Brook, then swept through the CAA tournament with consecutive wins over College of Charleston, Drexel, Northeastern and Towson.
The Hawks come into Thursday's game with an 18-15 record, 9-9 in the CAA. As a team, they average 64.1 points a game and allow 63.2. Monmouth shoots .411 from the floor, .329 from 3-point range and .698 from the charity stripe. They average 7.6 3-pointers and 10.4 free-throws per game, while also averaging 37.8 rebounds, 13.2 assists, 6.1 steals and 3.7 blocks per game.
Graduate guard Bri Tinsley leads Monmouth in scoring with a 12.1-point average while also collecting team-bests in assists (120) and steals (36). Junior guard Ariana Vanderhoop is averaging 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds. Junior 6-3 center Belle Kranbuhl has 62 blocks on the season and leads the team in rebounds with a 6.3 per-game clip.
The Golden Eagles, winners of their last seven games, enter Thursday's trip to Bloomington with a 22-9 record, finishing 13-5 in the OVC and beating SIUE, Eastern Illinois and Little Rock in succession to win the conference tournament. As a team, Tech is averaging 69.1 points a game, while allowing 62.4 – shooting .431 from the floor, .333 from 3-point range and .758 at the line. The Golden Eagles average 6.5 3-pointers and 13.0 free-throws a game, while averaging 34.7 rebounds, 15.7 assists, 8.0 steals and 2.6 per game.
Maaliya Owens, who recently became the 35th Tennessee Tech women's player to score 1,000 points in a career, leads the Golden Eagles with a 14.7-point average and needs three 3-pointers made to tie Allison Clark and Blair Bowens for the single-season 3-point record. Jada Guinn, the OVC Tournament MVP, is averaging 10.5 points and has 123 assists on the year with 53 steals. Anna Walker is also averaging 10.1 points a game.
Tickets for Thursday's game are available here.
Championship T-shirts are available from the Hooper Eblen Center ticket office or by calling (931) 372-3940.
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
