BRACKET
2010 OVC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
FIRST-ROUND - TUESDAY, MARCH 2 (at Higher seeds campus sites)
#1 Eastern Illinois 73, #8 Tennessee State 56
#2 Morehead State 95, #7 Murray State 90
#3 Austin Peay 79, #6 Tennessee Tech 61
#4 UT Martin 51, #5 Eastern Kentucky 47
SEMIFINALS - FRIDAY, MARCH 5 (Bridgestone Arena - Nashville, Tenn.)
#1 Eastern Illinois vs. #4 UT Martin - 12:00 p.m. CT (Wazoo Sports, OVCSports.TV, WEIU, WCTE, KMOV)
#2 Morehead State vs. #3 Austin Peay- 2:00 p.m. CT (Wazoo Sports, OVCSports.TV, WEIU, WCTE, KMOV)
CHAMPIONSHIP - SATURDAY, MARCH 6 (Bridgestone Arena - Nashville, Tenn.)
Championship - 3:00 p.m. CT (Wazoo Sports, OVCSports.TV, WEIU, WCTE, KMOV, WQWQ)
#1 EASTERN ILLINOIS 73, #8 TENNESSEE STATE 56
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Maggie Kloak registered game-high totals of 19 points and nine rebounds in her final game at Lantz Arena, leading Eastern Illinois women's basketball to a 73-56 victory against Tennessee State in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Tuesday evening.
The Panthers (22-9) defeated TSU (10-18) for the 10th consecutive time, extending their longest win streak ever against any OVC rival. Eastern has advanced to Nashville for the OVC Final Four for the third year in a row. The Panthers will play UT Martin Friday at noon in the tourney semifinals.
Eastern defeated every OVC team to visit Lantz Arena this season and will most likely carry a 10-game home win streak into the 2010-11 campaign. Two years ago, EIU ended the 2007-08 season riding a seven-game home win streak and went on to win 20 consecutive games at Lantz.
Every Panther that saw significant action connected on a field goal. Ta'Kenya Nixon scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. Dominique Sims and Sydney Mitchell both finished with nine. Chantelle Pressley chipped in eight points and seven rebounds, including five O-boards.
Tennessee State's top three seniors led the way in their final collegiate game. Oby Okafor and Nikki Rumph both scored 11 points, LaDona Pierce finished with 10.
Eastern committed only 10 turnovers after giving the ball away 23 times Saturday night against TSU in the regular-season finale. The Panthers also grabbed 20 offensive rebounds but were only able to turn the extended possessions into 15 second-chance points.
Led by Kloak, EIU enjoyed a 34-24 edge in points in the paint. The 10-point advantage was posted entirely in the first half as the Panthers jumped ahead early and took a 13-point lead to the locker room.
Eastern was ahead by double figures the entire second half but TSU cut the lead to 11 with at the 5:17 mark. However, the Lady Tigers did not score from the field for the rest of the game.
The Lady Tigers amped up the pressure with a full-court press near the midpoint of the second half. Eastern struggled against the press while Nixon was on the bench with three fouls for a stretch of 3 ½ minutes. Tennessee State made its final push at that juncture with a 14-4 run. But after Pierce connected on a layup at the 5:17 mark, Nixon immediately took the ball to the basket and got fouled. She made both free throws and then connected on a jumper on EIU's next possession.
Kelsey Wyss connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to punctuate a 10-2 spurt for the Panthers that gave EIU a 21-point lead at 10:29 mark of the second half.
Eastern surged ahead in the first half with a 12-1 run. The first 10 points came from freshmen, as Mariah King and Nixon both connected on a pair of field goals. The Lady Tigers did not score from the field for more than six minutes during that stretch.
Of the four teams to advance to Nashville for the OVC Tournament semifinals, the Panthers are the only team that has done so each of the last three seasons. Eastern is now 5-2 in the OVC Tournament play during that time.
#2 MOREHEAD STATE 95, #7 MURRAY STATE 90
MOREHEAD, Ky. - In one of the most exhilarating and classic women's basketball Ohio Valley Conference Tournament games ever played, host and second seed Morehead State held off seventh seed Murray State 95-90 Tuesday night at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles improved to 22-9, setting the school NCAA-era record for wins in a season, while Murray State ends its season at 13-17. Morehead State will be in the OVC Tournament semifinals Friday at 2 p.m. CT it will be the Eagles' first trip to Nashville for the semis since 2005-06.
Chynna Bozeman scored a career high 39 points and dished out a season high eight assists for the Eagles, including 21 points in the first half. Murray State's Kayla Lowe hit seven three-pointers - part of a 15-trey night for the Lady Racers - to score a career high 28 points. Kayla Vance added 24.
The Eagles got 15 rebounds from the OVC's top board-getter Ashar Harris, but the Racers out-rebounded the Eagles 40-38. Murray State grabbed 18 offensive rebounds.
In a bizarre and furiously-paced last three minutes of the game, the Racers took an 90-87 lead on Vance's seventh trey. Tiffany Hamilton countered with a driving layup with 1:15 left to make it 90-89. Bozeman connected on two free throws with 43 seconds left to give the Eagles the lead they never relinquished. During a break in the action, a dead ball technical was issued to Murray State. Bozeman hit one of the two technical tosses, still giving the visitors a chance to tie or win.
But, with the ball out of bounds and 12 seconds left, the Lady Racers called a timeout they did not have and Bozeman hit two more technical free throws to seal the final margin.
The Eagles shot 46 percent for the game (32-of-69), while Murray State shot 48 percent (32-of-67). The Eagles hit nine three pointers on 24 attempts. The 24 attempts helped MSU break the NCAA Division single season mark for treys attempted.
In the first half, The Lady Racers jumped out to a 5-0 lead via a Kayla Vance three-pointer and close range jumper, but the Eagles answered with an 11-2 run. Deja Watson capped the early run with a layup off a Bozeman assist.
The Eagles went on to lead 17-9 but Murray State came right back to tie the game at 17-17 with 12:52 left in the first half. The Eagles would not allow the Lady Racers to take the lead, and the hosts scored the next six to push ahead 23-17 with just less than 10 minutes left.
After the Racers cut the game to two (23-21), Bozeman drained her third three-pointer of the half at 8:56. Later in the half, Bozeman drove to the bucket and scored her 19th point of the opening 20-minute period to give MSU a 39-31 lead.
The Eagles led 47-41 at the break.
#3 AUSTIN PEAY 79, #6 TENNESSEE TECH 61
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University women's basketball team opened a double-digit lead in the first half and never looked back en route to a 79-61 victory against Tennessee Tech, Tuesday night, in first-round action of the 2010 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Basketball Championship at the Dunn Center.
The game was nip-and-tuck over the opening 10 minutes with nether team enjoying more than a six-point lead. After Austin Peay controlled the opening four minutes, Tennessee Tech scored six straight points to take its only lead, 12-11, on Kellie Cook's three-pointer at the 14:52 mark.
Austin Peay (13-17) regained the lead with Brooke Faulkner's layup at the 13:36 mark. But it was a 14-5 run that began at the 11:40 mark that pushed APSU's lead into double digits for the first time. Tennessee Tech stemmed the tide momentarily as a Tacarra Hayes basket cut the lead to eight points. However, Austin Peay got a pair of baskets from Nicole Jamen and a jumper from Darcie Warner to put the lead at 14 points, 37-23, with 1:44 remaining before settling at 13 points, 40-27, at halftime.
Tennessee Tech (14-16) could not cut the lead to single digits in the second half. Austin Peay got three consecutive baskets from Dalila Thomas to build its largest lead - a 19-point, 59-40 advantage with 12:48 remaining - forcing a TTU timeout. The timeout seemingly helped as the Golden Eagles scored 11 of the next 13 points to narrow the deficit to 10 points, 61-51, with 9:21 left.
But that was as close as Tennessee Tech would get as Austin Peay used a 7-2 run over the next 1:22 to rebuild a 15-point advantage with eight minutes left and the Lady Govs were not threatened the game's remainder.
Austin Peay's Ashley Herring scored a game-high 22 points, making 6-of-13 from the field, and grabbed nine rebounds. Jamen chipped in her season's 10th double-double with a 13-point, 15-rebound performance. Whitney Hanley chipped in 18 points and Thomas finished with 10 points off the bench.
Cook led Tennessee Tech with 18 points. Hayes finished with 13 points and eight assists while Krystal Stirrup added 12 points off the bench.
Austin Peay advances to the semifinal round and will meet second-seed Morehead State in a 2 p.m., Friday contest at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
#4 UT MARTIN 51, #5 EASTERN KENTUCKY 47
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin suffered through its worst shooting night of the season, shooting only 26 percent from the field, but found a way to hit the clutch shots when it needed them and pull out a 51-47 win over Eastern Kentucky and advance to the Ohio Valley Conference semi-finals in Nashville, Tenn. Alecia Weatherly had only 11 points, but none were bigger than the go-ahead three-pointer she hit with just one minute remaining.
The win not only improves the Skyhawks record to 11-18 (8-10 OVC) on the year, but also marks the first OVC Tournament win since a 61-57 win over Morehead State in the first round of the 2007 tournament.
UT Martin opened the game with that tough defense on the Colonels and used it to build a quick 7-0 lead in the first three minutes off of an Weatherly three-pointer and a full court inbounds passed that LaBrica Ward turned into a layup. That forced a time out from Eastern Kentucky coach Chrissy Roberts and coming out of that the Skyhawks went near ice cold from the field for the remainder of the half.
UT Martin went the next 5:30 without a basket from the field and saw Eastern Kentucky pull within 9-7 before Darnisha Lyles ended the brief scoreless drought with a layup at the 11:19 mark. That ultimately was UT Martin's last basket from the field the remainder of the half as it went on to shoot only 15 percent in the opening period.
UT Martin's defense was able to hold the Colonels at bey while the Skyhawks stayed close on the scoreboard at the free throw line. Paige Smith connected on a free throw with 5:32 left in the half to keep UT Martin within one before Brittany Coles hit a pair of three-pointers near the end of the half to push Eastern Kentucky to a 23-18 advantage into the locker room.
At the half UT Martin was only 3-of-20 from the field and only 1-of-12 from three-point range. Lyles led the team in scoring with six points, four of which had come from the free throw line.
Eastern Kentucky buried a three-pointer to open the second half to take its largest lead of the game at 26-18 but then the Skyhawks responded with a heavy dose of Lyles in the post. She scored 10 consecutive points for UT Martin, pulling the game into a 28-28 tie with 14:30 left.
Cali Cupples then hit her first three-pointer of the game to put the Skyhawks on top 31-28. UT Martin later pushed its lead to four at 34-30 before Eastern Kentucky used back-to-back baskets from Nadia Mossong to move back ahead 35-34 with nine minutes remaining.
Eastern Kentucky increased its lead to three, only to see Weatherly counter with a three-pointer to tie the score at 37-all with 5:32 left. Mossong later answered Weatherly's three-pointer when she banked in a three-pointer and Alex Jones pushed the Colonels lead to five at 42-37 with only four minutes left on the clock.
The Skyhawks had an answer though in Ward, who had been forced to the bench for a large part of the second half because of fouls. Ward came back off the bench and scored five straight points for the Skyhawks to again tie the game with 1:37 left, setting up Weatherly to hit the go-ahead trey in the final minute and give UT Martin the 45-42 edge.
Eastern Kentucky was forced to foul, but the Skyhawks hit six of their eight free throw attempts down the stretch to counter a pair of Eastern Kentucky baskets and secure the 51-47 win.
In the game UT Martin shot only 26.8 percent from the field but was 4-of-9 from three point range in the second half. Lyles finished with a 18 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the year, while also recording a career-high with 10 made free throws in the game. Ward finished the night with 12 to go along with Weatherly's 11 in the game.
UT Martin lost the rebounding battle 40-30 but forced 17 Colonels turnovers, while giving the ball up only 11 times