The Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana played host to the final showdown of the 2020-21 Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Championship Tournament between the first- and second-seeded Skyhawks and Bruins, respectively. Ultimately, the Skyhawks fell short of the ultimate conference prize, as Belmont edged out UTM 83-75.
For the Skyhawks, this loss signals the fourth-straight OVC Finals loss, with three out of the four of those losses coming at the hands of Belmont. While UTM featured four double-digit scorers in sophomore forward Dasia Young (19), junior guard Paige Pipkin (16), senior forward Maddie Waldrop (11) and senior forward Chelsey Perry (16 off the bench), the Skyhawks had no answer for Belmont guard Destinee Wells, who dropped 32 points on the Skyhawks, or the Bruins’ offense in general, as they also had four double-digit scorers.
Defensively, the Skyhawks were led by Waldrop’s team-leading six defensive rebounds and four steals. Young assumed the role of the squad’s top statistical performer, leading the team in points, total rebounds (9) and recording the second-most minutes at 36. The Skyhawks’ go-to offensive weapon in Perry was relegated to coming off the bench after dealing with injury woes towards the end of the season. Despite that, Perry still managed to come in second on the team in both points and total rebounds at seven.
Belmont wasted no time in taking the lead, as two jumpers within the first minute gave the Bruins an early 4-0 lead. Until a three by Pipkin at the 4:51 mark, the Skyhawks missed their first eight shots. Fortunately for the Skyhawks, the Bruins also struggled to score as well, allowing Pipkin’s three to close the margin to 4-3. Following the early-game drought, both squads found their offensive strides, ending the first quarter 14-12 in favor of the Bruins.
The Skyhawks’ deficit finally was eliminated at the 8:07 mark of the second quarter thanks to a layup by junior guard Kyannah Grant. Following the game-tying layup, Belmont capitalized on two steals and more offensive miscues by UTM to go up 23-16 by the 5:56 mark. Though a paint jumper by Young at the 4:34 mark got the Skyhawks to the 20-point mark, the second quarter ended with a massive 41-26 lead held by Belmont.
Quarter three saw the Skyhawks desperately scratch and claw at their large deficit, but UTM wasn’t able to reduce their lead to single-digits until the 5:19 mark in the fourth quarter. Though the Skyhawks would manage to cut their deficit down to only six points late in the game, hinting at a potential comeback, the Bruins held on to claim their third conference tournament title in four years, including a berth in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT).
UTM and Belmont’s benches both put up 11 points while the Skyhawks edged out the Bruins in the paint by a 38-26 margin. Outside of that, the Skyhawks were beat out in almost every other team category, including fast break points, second chance points, field goal percentage and and three-point percentage.
“I thought our kids played hard but because I made a few mistakes, we ran out of time,” UTM head coach Kevin McMillan said. “I made some mistakes early that got Belmont in a rhythm and even though we did correct them, the damage was done and they played great – not that they couldn’t have anyway – but it kind of went against what I was trying to accomplish. I thought we kind of rushed it a little bit early. We got good shots, we just didn’t make them and we started to get frustrated. Then in the second quarter they got on a roll and it began to snowball. A game is just so fragile, I wish that I would have been able to make a little adjustment to give them a better chance to recover earlier.”
Despite another brutal end to a season, the Skyhawks will have the opportunity to redeem themselves in the WNIT, which begins on March 17 in Evansville.
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