EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball jumped out to a big lead in the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championship quarterfinals and never gave it back as the squad opened its tournament appearance with a 79-71 victory over Tennessee Tech.
The No. 3 seeded Skyhawks (15-14) posted their third win of the season against the Golden Eagles – including their second in the past week. UT Martin held a lead as large as 20 points in the first half but No. 6 seeded Tennessee Tech did not go away quietly, ultimately cutting their deficit down to as close as four points, before the higher seed pulled away down the stretch.
The two teams combined to make 29 three-point field goals with UT Martin knocking down 14-of-18 three-point field goal attempts. The Arkansas tandem of Kenley McCarn and Josie Storey each made four of six three-point attempts while McCarn led all scorers with 31 points – tying her previous career-high.
While three-pointers played a big role in the contest, a complete team effort saw four different players reach double figures for the Skyhawks. McCarn paced the team with 31 points while Storey tossed in 14 points to rank second on the team. The squad was rounded out in double figures by Love Mays (13 points) and Lexi Rubel (11 points, five assists) while Anaya Brown tallied seven points and 14 rebounds to just miss out on all five starters reaching double-digits in the scoring column.
“We need to print a t-shirt that says ‘Find a Way’ because that is what this team continues to do,” UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said. “We treat each game like it is its own game and our kids came ready to play. We knew we would be in for a battle, but we made shots early and found a way to win when things got tight in the second half. Give our kids credit because that was a gutsy effort.”
Tennessee Tech (16-15) saw its season come to a close despite seeing five players reach double figures in the loss. Although the team made just 36.8 percent of their shot attempts, the squad made the most of their three-point chances where they cashed in 15 trifectas to make things interesting in the second half. Maaliya Owens paced the team with 17 points – five three-pointers – while Peyton Carter (13), Reghan Grimes (13), Cayla Cowart (12) and Anna Walker (11) rounded out a balanced scoring effort.
With the win, UT Martin now punches its ticket to the OVC Basketball Championship semifinals on Friday, March 8. The Skyhawks will go toe-to-toe with No. 2 seed Little Rock after both teams picked up a win on each other’s homecourt this season.
