SUNDAY’S SCORES
@Cincinnati 52, Eastern Illinois 47
@Morehead State 70, UT Arlington 65
@Illinois-Chicago 70, SIU Edwardsville 54
Georgia Tech 68, Tennessee Tech 56
Winthrop 54, UT Martin 49
CINCINNATI 52, EASTERN ILLINOIS 47
CINCINNATI - Cincinnati’s Shelly Bellman connected on a 25-footer as the shot clock expired with 25 seconds remaining in a three-point game, providing the decisive points in the Bearcats’ 52-47 victory against Eastern Illinois women’s basketball Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the Courtyard Marriott Florence Thanksgiving Classic.
Ellen Canale led the Panthers (4-3) with a season-high 15 points. Rachel Galligan scored eight of her 12 points in the second half. Lindsey Kluempers connected on a pair of 3-pointers and finished with six.
Eastern won the rebounding battle 32-23 but came up on the wrong end of a 21-15 turnover margin.
Cincinnati improved to 5-1 on the season with the victory, winning all three of its games at the four-team tournament.
Bellman connected on four of her team’s nine 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 16 points. Half of the Bearcats’ 18 field goals were scored from long range. Eastern made five 3s.
Each of UC’s last three field goals was a 3-pointer, with Bellman connecting on the final two. Her clutch, game-deciding shot ended a four and a half minute scoring drought. During that span EIU got a pair of field goals from Galligan, the second coming with 1:19 remaining, making it a 48-45 game.
The Panthers committed a foul on the subsequent UC possession and the Bearcats had the ball on their end of the floor for nearly a minute. After calling a timeout with eight seconds remaining on the shot clock, the ball eventually came to Bellman on the left wing. Her contested heave from the left wing was a clean swish.
Besides connecting on 5-of-10 from the field, including a 3-pointer, Canale also collected four rebounds and four assists. She limited Cincinnati’s leading scorer, Kahla Roudebush (a former high school teammate of Kluempers), to 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting. The Panthers also held Jill Stephens, UC’s second-leading scorer, without a field goal attempt.
Eastern led for the first nine minutes of the game and by as many as seven during that span. However, Cincinnati responded to the seven-point deficit with an 11-2 run. The Panthers regained the advantage on a 3-pointer by Ashley Thomas, but did not score again from the field until Galligan connected on a layup in the final seconds of the half. The Bearcats reeled off 10 unanswered points during the EIU drought to take a five-point lead to the locker room.
It was those five points that proved to be the difference in the game after the two teams played to an even 25-25 draw during the final 20 minutes.
Eastern used a 10-3 run in the second half to take its final lead of the game at 36-35 with 11:24 remaining. But UC answered with a basket on the other end of the floor, a field goal that ignited a 13-5 spurt. It remained a two-possession game until Galligan scored with 1:19 left.
En route to finishing as the runner-up of the tournament, all 14 Panthers saw action over the course of the three games. Galligan scored in double-figures in every contest.
MOREHEAD STATE 70, UT ARLINGTON 65
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State's women's basketball team shot only 30 percent Sunday against visiting UT Arlington, and the Eagles didn't score a field goal in the final 3:45, but a couple of late clutch three-pointers by sophomore Chynna Bozeman and some tough defense in the end proved to be the difference as MSU knocked off the Mavericks, 70-65, to win their seventh straight home game. The Eagles improved to 4-2, outscoring UTA 43-28 in the final 20 minutes.
The Eagles trailed by ten (37-27) at the half and didn't take the lead for good until 2:48 left. Bozeman, who led all players with 19 points, hit a three-ball with 5:07 left to push MSU ahead 59-57. With 3:45 left, Bozeman drained another trey to knot the game at 62. That would be the last field goal for the Eagles, but MSU forced the Mavericks into five missed three-pointers in the final 3:45, and MSU converted 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:18 to stay ahead. UTA was 1-of-5 from the line in the final two minutes.
MSU forced 23 UTA turnovers and committed only eight itself. The Eagles opened the second half on a 19-6 run, capped by a three-pointer from Tiffanie Stephens, at 14:05. MSU never allowed the Mavericks to take more than a five-point lead the rest of the game.
The Eagles did get out-rebounded 52-41, but junior Brittany Pittman collected her fourth double-double of the year with 11 points and 12 rebounds, including seven offensive boards and eight total in the second half. She also added five blocked shots before fouling out with 1:05 left. She moved into sole possession of second place on the MSU career blocked shot chart, passing Shelly Johnson. Pittman now has 160 blocks in 36 career games in Morehead.
Junior Tiffany Hamilton reached double figures for the fifth straight game with 15 points. MSU hit nine three-pointers.
UTA was led with a monster effort from Erin Dixon with 17 points and 19 rebounds. Candice Champion totaled 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Shalyn Martin had 11 points, eight boards and eight assists in 40 minutes.
The Eagles shot only 25 percent in the first half and shot only 29.9 percent for the game (20-of-67). They were 9-of-23 from three-point range. The Mavericks shot 40 percent (25-of-62) during the entire 40 minutes. MSU also had a 21-8 scoring advantage at the free throw line.
ILLINOIS-CHICAGO 70, SIU EDWARDSVILLE 54
CHICAGO - Illinois-Chicago remained undefeated in the early season with a 70-54 victory over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in women's college basketball action Sunday at UIC Pavilion.
SIUE, 1-5, will next face the Chicago State Cougars Tuesday in a noon contest. It will be the final game of a six-game road stretch for SIUE. The Cougars return home Friday at 6 p.m. to face Loyola (Ill.) and Saturday at 3 p.m. to meet Northern Kentucky.
On Sunday, Illinois-Chicago used a balanced offensive attack and a 62-32 rebounding advantage to hold off the Cougars. Illinois-Chicago used its rebounding lead to edge the Cougars 19-2 on second-chance points.
SIUE's Brittany Imig finished as the game's leading scorer with 14 points. The senior hit three three-pointers and shot 5 of 11 from the field before fouling out with 1:36 left in the game.
It was the first time this season that someone other than Jenny Wuest was the leading scorer for the Cougars. Wuest has now scored double figures in all six games this season, finishing with 12 Sunday. SIUE guard Ashley Bey also scored 12 points with a team-high six assists.
UIC's Jessie Miller posted a team-best 11 points. Five other players scored at least eight points for the 3-0 Flames.
The Cougars fared well in the paint, holding a 10-8 advantage at halftime despite being down by nine points, 38-29.
Madison Meade put SIUE back within six at 38-32 just 19 seconds into the second half on a three-pointer.
Illinois-Chicago made its big scoring move midway through the second half. The Flames posted a 14-1 run to take a 20-point lead with 6:56 to play.
GEORGIA TECH 68, TENNESSEE TECH 56
BOCA RATON, Fla. ? Forty minutes of relentless pressure defense gave Tennessee Tech a chance for an unset Sunday, but Georgia Tech had a few too many weapons and escaped with a 68-56 victory over the Golden Eagles in the consolation game of the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Classic.
Tech forced 32 turnovers by Georgia Tech (5-2), and just kept fighting back against the bigger team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Golden Eagles, however, couldn’t overcome 35 turnovers and a second consecutive day of cold shooting.
Senior point guard Allison Price led Tech in scoring, tying her career-high with 15 points. Classmate Meagan Lyons added 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds, while Vivian Nwosu also reached double digits with 11 points. Freshman Tacarra Hayes scored eight points.
Georgia Tech also had three players in double figures, topped by Brigette Ardossi with 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Jacqua Williams added 16 points and Alex Montgomery scored 10, including a crucial 3-pointer with 3:01 remaining after Tech had pulled to within four points.
The Yellow Jackets scooted to a quick 4-0 lead and held their advantage all the way to the finish. They increased their lead to as many as 12 points in the first half, leading 17-5 at the 12:24 mark.
Tech sliced the difference down to four points when Lyons’ layup capped a 6-1 run to make it 21-17 with 5:47 to play, but GT scored eight straight to regain the 12-point bulge.
Back-to-back baskets by Lyons made it a six-point game, 29-23, at halftime.
Twice in the second half Price knocked down 3-pointers that brought the Golden Eagles to within a single point, once at 31-30 and the second time at 42-41 with 10:13 remaining.
The Yellow Jackets scored the next nine points to make it a 10-point game, and once again the Golden Eagles hammered away to close the gap. A 3-pointer by Nwosu and a layup by Hayes made it 52-48 with 3:01 left to play.
That’s when Montgomery hit the 3-pointer to make it 55-48, and she added a steal and layup eight seconds later to make it 57-48.
Tennessee Tech was forced to foul down the stretch and the Yellow Jackets finished with six straight free throws for the final 12-point margin.
Tech shot 30 percent in the first half and improved to 46 percent in the second period, finishing the game with a 39.2 percent mark. The Golden Eagles owned a 35-29 advantage in rebounds.
WINTHROP 54, UT MARTIN 49
CINCINNATI - The University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team was on the brink the entire game against Winthrop in the final game of the National City Xavier Invitational, but was not able to convert the last second attempts as Winthrop held on to win 54-49. Phyllisha Mitchell led the way for the Skyhawks after her second double-double of the season with 21 points and 21 rebounds, both career-highs. Mitchell's 21 rebounds also set a new Cintas Center record.
UT Martin had its opportunities to take control of the game, but was held to only 35 percent shooting from the field and only 7-15 from the free-throw line. The Skyhawks cut the lead to only two on three occasions in the second half but were unable to knock down the game changing shot when they needed it most.
A Mitchell put back pulled the Skyhawks to within two points with 35 seconds remaining in the game, then on the defensive end Winthrop was able to convert an old-fashioned three-point play to push the lead back out to five. UT Martin had its changes to cut into that lead and extend the game with three shots on the offensive end, but none were able to find the bottom of the net and Winthrop held on for the win, dropping UT Martin's record to 1-4 on the young season.
To open the game an Allison Wright jumper from the top of the key ended a 9-0 Winthrop run to start the contest. Yolanda Davis then picked up buckets on back-to-back trips help spark the Skyhawks on offense and cut the lead to only five. Sienna Forney connected on the first of her three first half buckets to again cut the lead to five at 15-10 with 13:46 remaining but Winthrop then responded with another run, this time 7-0, to push the lead to its widest margin of the half at 12.
After the Lady Eagles expanded the lead to its only double-digit margin of the game, UT Martin's Maryam Kirk connected on a mid-range jumper to end the Winthrop scoring streak and start 6-0 run for the Skyhawks. Phyllisha Mitchell put in an easy layup on the next trip down floor for UT Martin then a Wright pass deflection allowed Mitchell to pick up a steal on the defensive end as well. Mitchell continued to lead the Skyhawk charge again scoring in the post on the next offensive possession.
The Skyhawks would cut the lead to six two more times in the first half, but that was as close as they could pull before Winthrop carried a seven point edge into the half time break at 33-26.
Coming out in the second half, Mitchell picked up from the start where she left off in the first half. She connected on two buckets early in the second, helping to cut the Winthrop lead to only three at 37-34. The Skyhawks then got another put back from Mitchell with 13:53 left on the clock, to cut the Winthrop lead to only two at 39-37.
From that point UT Martin went the next 4:45 without a field goal, but Mitchell converted four free-throws to keep the Skyhawks close at 43-41. The Lady Eagles pushed the lead back out to five before Cali Cupples three-pointer at 6:09, cut the lead to only two at 47-45.
Tiffany Rodd answered for Winthrop on the very next possession with a three of her own to stifle the Skyhawks momentum with what would end up being the game winning bucket.