By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As the adage says, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team proved that as the literal truth on Saturday afternoon as the Golden Eagles rallied from a 13-point deficit late in the second quarter and surged on a 13-2 run of their own in the fourth quarter to take a 76-65 victory over Southeast Missouri in the Hooper Eblen Center.
Harley Paynter led the Golden Eagles (7-9, 2-3 Ohio Valley Conference) as she not only broke her career-high in scoring, she tripled it as she scored 21 points, shooting an efficient 6-for-8 from the field, 3-for-5 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 at the free-throw line as the Grayson, Ky., native was a spark plug in the second half.
Joining Paynter on the second-half assault was Maaliya Owens with 19 points as she went 7-for-17 on the floor and 5-for-11 from 3-point land, Kiera Hill with another solid performance with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting and Reghan Grimes with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
Alecia Doyle led Southeast Missouri (5-11, 2-3 OVC) with 23 points, going 8-for-19 from the field and 7-for-7 at the charity stripe. Indiya Brown scored 12 points and Julia Sion added 10.
The Redhawks took a small lead in the first quarter, taking advantage of a spell where the Golden Eagles went 1-for-10 toward the end of the period until Grimes nailed a second-chance layup to cut the deficit back down to four points to end a scoring drought that neared four-and-a-half minutes. Tech trailed 18-14 at the close of the first stanza.
The Golden Eagles endured another scoring drought in the second as SEMO scored 13 unanswered points, going 6-for-7 from the field on the stretch. The Redhawks led by 13 with 2:57 remaining in the intermission but could only get one point closer as the half ended – trailing 36-28.
The team that came back out in the second half played with fire and intensity as the Golden Eagles surged, outscoring SEMO 48-29 in the final 20 minutes as Paynter came out on fire. In the second half alone, she scored 17 of her points as she was 4-for-4 from the field, 3-for-3 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the line. Hill had 11 and Owens 10 in the final two quarters.
Tech was 16-for-29 from the field in the second half, shooting 55.2 percent, which included a 5-for-9 clip from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles were also perfect from the line, knocking down all 11 second-half shots.
The Golden Eagles outscored the Redhawks 23-14 in the third quarter, using an 11-0 run as Paynter tied the game and gave Tech a 39-38 lead on a pair of free throws. SEMO was able to return to a three-point lead, but the quarter ended as Peyton Carter stole the ball away and Hill was able to knock down a jumper to retake a 51-50 lead with 28 seconds left in the third.
Tech never looked back as it took a double-digit lead with a 13-2 run and outscored the Redhawks 25-15 in the final period.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Thursday as they travel to Nashville to take on Tennessee State. Tipoff for the game is scheduled for 5 p.m.
