After heading into halftime with a 23-25 deficit, the Skyhawk women’s hoops squad rode a second half momentum swing to claim their fifth conference win in a 65-39 rout of the Eastern Kentucky Colonels (6-7, 5-4 OVC) on Jan. 21 in Richmond, Kentucky.
Senior forward Chelsey Perry didn’t look like her usual self in the first half, as the reigning Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Player of the Week only managed five points and three rebounds going into halftime. The rest of the team didn’t fare much better, as Perry’s co-stars in senior forward Maddie Waldrop and sophomore forward Dasia Young only managed five and three points in the first half, respectively.
However, a second half revival resulted in 17 more points for Perry, who scored a game-high 22 points and recorded eight total rebounds, tying EKU guard/forward Bria Bass for the game-high in that category. Waldrop and Young scored totals of nine and eight to end the night, respectively.
The Colonels were led by senior forward Jayla Johnson, who led the team with 11 points. Guard Kendall Winger (five defensive rebounds), Bass (six defensive rebounds, one block) and forward Anysa Jordan (six defensive rebounds, one steal) held down the backcourt for EKU.
The Skyhawks started the game off on a sour note, as the squad started off with two missed three-pointers and a missed tip-in on one possession. However, the Colonels similarly struggled to get on the scoreboard, and the first point wasn’t recorded until the 7:30 mark when a layup by Perry got UTM on the board for a lead of 2-0. Johnson tied the game 2-2 with a jumper on the Colonel’s next possession.
A three by junior guard Kyannah Grant gave UTM a 9-4 lead at 3:22 of the first quarter, and the Skyhawks would leave quarter one with a slim 12-8 lead.
The Skyhawks opened the second quarter with a 5-2 run to extend their lead to 18-10 at 6:15. UTM’s offense stalled out, however, and a jumper by Bass at 0:48 tied the game up 23-23. With only 18 seconds in quarter two, a layup by forward Emma Hacker gave EKU a slight 25-23 lead going into halftime.
The Skyhawks had a dismal 27.3% (9-33) shooting percentage from the field and even worse luck with three-pointers, only scoring on three of 12 shots (25%) from beyond the arc.
Needing to tighten up on offense, the Skyhawks erased a 23-27 deficit thanks to threes from sophomore guard Seygan Robins and junior guard Paige Pipkin. A layup by Perry soon after gave UTM a 31-27 lead at 8:41 in the third. The lead would be extended to 41-29 at 4:18. Three subs by EKU did little to help EKU’s diminishing offense, as the Colonels found themselves down 32-46 going into the final quarter.
The Skyhawks iced the game in the fourth, holding EKU to a mere seven points in the final frame of action. UTM, on the other hand, extended their to lead to a 26-point margin to close out the game.
UTM’s struggles in scoring off of offensive rebounds (two points total) was outshined by the Skyhawks’ sudden boost in shooting numbers. In the second half, the Skyhawks shot a much better 53.6% from the field and a 50% from beyond the arc. UTM’s perimeter defense suffocated the Colonels, as EKU missed all six three-point attempts in the second half.
“I didn’t think we played well, but we will take every win we can get while we try to figure this thing out,” UTM head coach Kevin McMillan said, according to Sports Information. “All I have been preaching is effort, effort, effort and I think the effort was there tonight. I guess I will just have to deal with looking a little out of sync if our effort is there and tonight it was. We just have to find a way to string things together and clean it up.”
With the win, the Skyhawks improve to 6-3 overall and 5-1 in conference play. UTM will be back in action on Jan. 23 when they travel to Morehead, Kentucky, when they take on Morehead State (5-8, 4-5 OVC).
Photo Credit / Sports Information
