MACOMB, Ill. – It's an early start to Ohio Valley Conference play Tuesday as the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team will head to Western Illinois looking to start the league slate on a high note.

 

Tipoff for the game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start. Roger Ealey will have the call on 106.1 The Eagle, while the game will also be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required).

 

Western Illinois enters the contest with a 5-3 record, including back-to-back losses on the road with a 95-52 loss at Cincinnati and a 69-56 loss to St. Thomas out of the Summit League. The Leathernecks' last four games have been on the road and Tuesday's contest will be their first home game in over a month.

 

As a team, the Leathernecks are averaging 69.8 points a game and allowing 65.4. The team is shooting .422 from the field, .349 from long-range with an average of 7.5 3-pointers, and .718 at the free-throw line with an average of 11.8 made free throws. WIU also averages 38.3 rebounds, 14.4 assists and 17.5 turnovers.

 

Raegan McCowan continues to be one of the top scorers in the OVC, averaging 20.3 points per game on a .437 shooting clip, but also gets it done at the line as 36 of her 162 points have come at the charity stripe. Mia Nicastro also averages double-digit scoring, with 13.8 per game. Allie Meadows (9.6) and Mallory McDermott (9.0) are hovering just below the double-digit mark, but lead the team in 3-pointers made with 18 and 19 respectively.

 

McCowan also leads the team in rebounding with an 8.8-board mark, while Addi Brownfield leads the Leathernecks with 26 assists and 24 steals.

 

While the Golden Eagles have lost three of their last five games, it is a misnomer as Tech (6-3) has continued to get stronger and posted one of its best non-conference slates in program history. After back-to-back losses to Middle Tennessee (69-52) and East Tennessee State (53-48), the Golden Eagles claimed a 79-65 win at Samford, then posted an impressive performance in a 91-79 loss at Colorado – the most points Tech has scored against a Power 4 program since the 2001-02 campaign. The Golden Eagles' last outing was an 82-58 Education Day victory over the University of the Cumberlands.

 

As a team, the Golden Eagles are averaging 69.7 points a game and allowing 61.8. Tech is shooting .422 from the field, .346 from 3-point range with 7.0 3-pointers per game, and .723 at the stripe with an average of 14.2 made free throws. The Golden Eagles also average 39.7 rebounds, 15.4 assists and 18.1 turnovers.

 

Tech has five players averaging double-digit scoring, led by Reghan Grimes with a 14.0-point mark. Peyton Carter is averaging 11.2 points, true freshman Chloe Larry 11.0, Taris Thornton 10.7 and Anna Walker 10.0.

 

Walker leads the team in rebounds with an 8.0-board average and has the team's top block total with 18. Carter has the team lead in assists with 34, while Grimes has the most steals with 20. Carter has also hit the most 3-pointers on the team with 24.

 

Following Tuesday's OVC opener at WIU, the Golden Eagles will then take on Lindenwood on Thursday. Tech will return to the Hooper Eblen Center on January 2 to face defending OVC champion Southern Indiana.

 

Tickets for Tech basketball are on sale now – call (931) 372-3940, visit the Hooper Eblen Center ticket office or order online at TTUsports.com.