Despite falling short of the OVC Tournament crown once again, the duo of senior forwards Chelsey Perry and Maddie Waldrop went out on a high note, leading the Skyhawks to a 64-59 win over Illinois State in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) Consolation Regional Finals.
The Skyhawks’ win simulated most of the team’s victories over the previous couple of years – with Waldrop and Perry leading the offense and anchoring the defense. Waldrop led all players in points (24) and rebounds (8), with Perry following up with 18 points and six rebounds. Outside of the dynamic duo, sophomore guard Seygan Robins and junior guard Kyannah Grant both tallied eight points and combined for three rebounds.
On the other side, forward DeAnna Wilson paced the Redbirds with 12 points and seven rebounds. Guards Juliunn Redmund and Mary Crompton trailed closely with 11 points each, with Redmund also tallying four rebounds.
The contest started off with Perry assisting a Waldrop jumper at the 9:38 mark, but the lead was erased less than 20 seconds later with a jumper by Wilson to tie the score at 2-2. After another tie, the Skyhawks turned on the burners and began pulling away. A layup by Waldrop at 7:09 kicked off a 15-2 Skyhawk run that lasted until the 2:04 mark. The Skyhawks went into quarter two with a commanding 22-9 lead.
The Redbirds decreased their deficit into the single-digits at the 8:53 mark in the second quarter, coming within a six-point gap after Wilson’s fast break layup at 8:24. UTM managed to extend their lead into the double-digits multiple more times in the second, but the Redbirds kept nipping at the Skyhawks’ heels and went into halftime trailing only 27-36.
A three-pointer by Crompton at the 9:40 mark of the third quarter opened second-half scoring. Crompton struck again shortly after with a a layup that decreased the deficit to 32-36. Illinois State finally closed the gap at the 3:44 mark thanks to a fast break three by Crompton. With both sides tied up at 42-42, the Redbirds snagged a short-lived lead that would alternate back to a tie multiple times, ending the third quarter with a 48-48 deadlock.
A three-pointer by Robins at 8:24 of the fourth quarter broke the stalemate, giving UTM a 51-48 lead early on. Perry went on to score the next four points of the game to raise the Skyhawks to a 55-48 lead. The Skyhawks would hold the lead until 4:11 mark, when Redmund sank two consecutive free throws to tie the score at 55-55. After trailing for a short time, Perry’s layup at 2:09 tied everything up at 57-57, sparking the UTM offense to take the lead and never surrender it again, giving UTM’s two veterans a win to cap off their college career.
“I am just amazed at what these kids did,” UTM head coach Kevin McMillan said. “We played basically seven kids, we totally reinvented ourselves, we changed our style and everybody bought into it. This was a really, really good team we faced. We played three games in this tournament and our kids had such mental toughness. We had every reason to fold it up but instead, this was the best we have executed all year on both offense and defense.”
The Skyhawk’s starting rotation was used heavily, as UTM’s bench players played only a little over 16 minutes and scored a mere two points. Despite that, UTM’s 47.7% field goal and 37.5% three-point shooting percentages were good enough to eclipse the Redbirds.
“How fitting is it that Chelsey and Maddie had 42 points tonight?” McMillan said. “They transcended the program. Our team wanted to send our seniors out with a win. Maddie and Chelsey have been coachable their entire career and it has been an honor for me to get to coach them.”
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