The University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball post duo of Chelsey Perry and Maddie Waldrop put on a show on the road at Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) foe Austin Peay (APSU) on Saturday afternoon, tallying a pair of dominating double-doubles en route to a 69-61 victory.
The Skyhawks (6-7, 2-0 OVC) shot 45.3 percent from the field while remaining unbeaten through the first road swing in league play. UTM used an impressive fourth quarter to put the game away by shooting 70 percent from the floor while outscoring APSU by eight in the second half.
Leading the way for the Skyhawks was the play of Perry and Waldrop who left their imprint on the game throughout the contest. Perry became just the 16th player in program history to join the 1,000-point club after yet another strong afternoon, tallying 28 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. The double-double marked the seventh of her career and second on the week. Meanwhile, Waldrop tallied a new career-high with 22 points while adding 13 rebounds and four steals for her second double-double of the season and third of her career.
“There was nothing pretty about this game, but it was a really gutsy performance by our girls,” UTM head coach Kevin McMillan said. “With Damiah going down earlier in the week, it was really on the minds of our players and they responded by coming on the road and finding a way to get a win. When you look at the way Chelsey and Maddie played, it was really unbelievable. We certainly didn’t play perfectly and we failed to execute many times, but our kids deserved to win based off of how hard they played, their effort and their ability to gut out a win.”
APSU (9-4, 0-2 OVC) dropped its second league game on the opening weekend after struggling from the field in the second half. Leading the way for the Govs was the play of forward Arielle Gonzalez-Varner who tallied a team-high 22 points while adding eight rebounds.
UTM will return to action with a home matchup against Tennessee State on Thursday, Jan. 9. Tipoff from the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
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