Posted: Jan 01, 2025
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team will start 2025 at home in the Hooper Eblen Center as the Golden Eagles host the defending Ohio Valley Conference champions as Southern Indiana comes to town on Thursday.
Tipoff for Thursday's game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Roger Ealey and Frank Harrell will have the call on 106.1 The Eagle, while Dylan Vazzano and Steve Smith will narrate the action on ESPN+ (subscription required).
Thursday's game is also Communiversity Night with 10 free tickets for Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce members and Upper Cumberland night with $5 admission for Upper Cumberland residents.
It'll be the first home game for the Golden Eagles in almost a month – the Dec. 6 Education Day victory over the University of the Cumberlands being the last – and only the second since the Nov. 14 victory over Jackson State.
Since then, Tech (7-4, 1-1 Ohio Valley Conference) have been road warriors, heading to Murfreesboro, Johnson City, Birmingham, Boulder, Macomb and St. Charles before finally coming home for this week's action against Southern Indiana and Morehead State.
The Golden Eagles opened up OVC play just before Christmas with Tech claiming a decisive 72-52 victory over Western Illinois, before a tough night against Lindenwood in a 67-54 defeat evened the league record at 1-1.
Southern Indiana stands right where it left off at the end of the 2023-24 campaign as the Screaming Eagles have a 3-0 mark in league play following a 74-56 win over Tennessee State, a 69-59 victory over UT Martin and a New Year's Eve win over Morehead State in a 79-65 contest. Thursday's game will be USI's first road conference contest of the campaign.
All three of Southern Indiana's losses have come against Top 25 competition with Louisville, Indiana and Illinois being the only teams thus far to top the 11-3 Screaming Eagles.
As a team, USI is averaging 72.4 points per game while allowing 58.1. The Screaming Eagles are shooting .440 from the field, .374 from 3-point range with an average of 6.6 3-pointers a game, and .709 from the free-throw line with an average of 11.5 charity tosses made per game.
Meredith Raley leads the team with 13.4 points per game, while also averaging 5.4 rebounds and has a team-best eight blocks. Ali Saunders is averaging 12.1 points with a team-best 58 assists, while Vanessa Shafford is averaging 10.9 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds.
For the Golden Eagles, Reghan Grimes leads the way with 12.8 points per game, with Peyton Carter averaging 11.3, Taris Thornton 10.5 and Chloe Larry 10.5. Grimes leads the team with 22 steals, while Carter has a team-best 41 assists and Anna Walker a team-best 19 blocks. Walker also averages a team-best 7.5 rebounds.
As a team, Tech is averaging 68.5 points and allowing 61.4. The Golden Eagles are shooting .417 from the field, .341 from long-range with an average of 6.9 3-pointers per game and .732 from the line with an average of 13.9 free-throws per game.
Following Thursday's game, Tech will host Morehead State for a 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday, then will travel to Eastern Illinois and SIUE next week.
Tickets for Tennessee Tech basketball are on sale now – call (931) 372-3940, visit the Hooper Eblen Center ticket office or order online at TTUsports.com.
