MARTIN, Tenn. – After a four-game road trip, the University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team returned home to the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center Sunday and picked up a win over Arkansas State, 82-71.
The first half went back and forth with Arkansas State going on a 5-0 run in the last 34 seconds of the second quarter to take a 33-29 lead into the locker room at the break. However, the second half belonged to the Skyhawks, as they outscored the Red Wolves, 53-38, over the final two quarters of the game.
UT Martin shot 60.0-percent from the floor and 50.-percent from 3-point range in the second half, to finish the game with a season-high 54.5 field goal percentage and a 3-point percentage of 47.4-percent.
The Skyhawks were also solid at the free throw line, where they went 13-for-15 for 86.7-percent, their highest percentage of the season on at least 10 attempts. Kenley McCarn made both of her free throw attempts in the game to improve to a perfect 15-for-15 on the season and extend her streak of consecutive made free throws to 19, dating back to last season.
Shae Littleford led UT Martin Sunday with a season-high 27 points, going 11-for-14 from the field and 4-for-6 from beyond the arc, as well as tallying a game-high five steals. Anaya Brown was next in line for the Skyhawks with 17 points, while Daejah Richmond led her team with a career-high eights assists, to go along with six points.
Both Kenley McCarn and Lexi Rubel flirted with double-doubles in the game. McCarn notched 10 points and eight assists, while Rubel had eight points and a game-high eight rebounds.
The Skyhawks open their 33rd season of Ohio Valley Conference play Thursday when they travel to Morehead State to take on the Eagles at 4 p.m. CT. On Sunday, UT Martin closes out its OVC opening road trip with a trip to the defending OVC tournament champions, Southern Indiana, for a 1 p.m. tilt.
