By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The regular season is in the books. Now it's the main event.
As the top eight teams in the Ohio Valley Conference converge on Evansville for this week's OVC Basketball Championships in the Ford Center, the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team has its work cut out for them as they enter play with the No. 6-seed in the tournament.
To reach the championship game on Saturday, the Golden Eagles will have to beat No. 7-seed Western Illinois, No. 3-seed UT Martin and No. 2-seed Little Rock in succession to face the victor from the other half of the bracket, which includes regular-season champion Southern Indiana in what will essentially be a home game for them with their campus a short distance from the Ford Center.
A daunting task indeed, but the Golden Eagles are no stranger to daunting tasks and if there's any team that has seen plenty of postseason success, it's Tennessee Tech. All-time in the OVC Tournament, the Golden Eagles are 51-28 with 10 championships – UT Martin with four is the next closest of the active membership, while Tennessee State (3) and Morehead State (1) are the only other teams in the field that have cut down the nets at the OVC Tournament.
Tech is 15-6 in OVC first-round games since the tournament started in 1982.
Wednesday's first-round matchup is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the Ford Center. Dylan Vazzano will broadcast the game on 106.1 The Eagle, while the game will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required) with Jeff Hem and Lexi Ayala on the call.
With a victory, the Golden Eagles (15-14) are assured of their sixth straight season with a winning record, which the Tech program hasn't had since the 1996-97 to 2001-02 stretch under the direction of Bill Worrell. Head coach Kim Rosamond's Golden Eagles matched those teams with their sixth-straight year of double-digit OVC victories, finishing 10-8 in the recently completed campaign.
However, starting off the run against conference newcomer Western Illinois is going to be a challenge. The two teams faced off only once this season – a 77-66 Golden Eagle victory in the Eblen Center on February 15, the only meeting between the two teams in program history.
While the final margin was 11, it wasn't indicative of the game as the two teams traded leads seven times with eight ties. Tech led the game for 27:21, but WIU held the advantage for 8:21. The Golden Eagles forced the Leathernecks into 22 turnovers, but Tech saw 16 get away from them.
Each team had four players score in double figures as Peyton Carter and Kiera Hill each had 16 points, while Anna Walker had 14 points and Reghan Grimes 10. Maaliya Owens, who was named to the All-OVC first team on Tuesday, was held to eight points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Raegan McCowan led WIU with 18 points as the OVC Freshman of the Year and first-team selection was 5-for-16 from the field and 8-for-10 at the free-throw line. Mallory McDermott had 16 points, while Addi Brownfield and Anna Deets each had 10 points.
Tech built its largest run in the fourth quarter of the game, bolstered by a 9-0 run.
For the season, Western Illinois (18-11, 9-9 OVC) was the top scoring offense in the conference, averaging 74.5 points a night, while ranking fifth in scoring defense at 66.1 points. McCowan averaged 19.2 points per game, shooting .458 from the field and .785 at the line. Anna Deets and Addi Brownfield also averaged double-digits with 13.5 and 10.2 respectively, while Mallory McDermott is just under at 9.8.
As a team, the Leathernecks are shooting .426 from the floor, .345 from 3-point range and .758 at the line. They average 7.2 3-pointers and 16.5 free throws made per game.
WIU won its last two games of the regular season, beating Eastern Illinois 64-54 and SIUE 84-56, after dropping four straight games with losses at Tech and Tennessee State and home defeats from Morehead State and Southern Indiana.
The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, saw their six-game winning streak snapped at UT Martin as Tech lost its final two games of the season with a 67-37 loss to the Skyhawks, then a 72-69 overtime heartbreaker at Little Rock.
As a team, Tech is averaging 69.6 points and allowing 66.4 points. The Golden Eagles are shooting .414 from the floor, .332 from 3-point range and .767 at the line. Tech averages 7.2 3-pointers and 13.6 free throws per game.
Owens leads the team in scoring at 15.1 points, with Grimes at an even 10.0 mark. Grimes also leads the team in rebounding, while Peyton Carter has a team-best 97 assists, Reagan Hurst 40 steals and Anna Walker 33 blocks.
Photo | Jim Dillon
