For the third consecutive year, the UTM women’s basketball team will compete for an Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championship title after knocking off No. 4 seed Eastern Illinois 63-52 in the tournament semifinals on Friday afternoon.
The Skyhawks (22-9) used a strong first half to push out the game’s margin and never looked back down the stretch to secure the team’s third straight berth in the tournament championship game and eighth in the past 10 seasons. Keying the semifinal contest was how the team stepped up with the loss of starting point guard Kyannah Grant as the squad tallied 22 assists on the team’s 23 made field goals.
On the defensive side of the ball, UTM limited Eastern Illinois to just a 29.1 percent field goal percentage, holding its second straight tournament opponent to under 30 percent shooting from the floor. The Skyhawks also doubled up the Panthers on the boards with 43 rebounds as opposed to EIU’s 21.
Junior forward Maddie Waldrop led all scorers with 20 points while tallying nine rebounds and six assists. OVC Player of the Year Chelsey Perry posted 18 points and eight rebounds while fellow junior Demi Burdick scored in double figures for the second straight game off the bench with 11 points.
“I thought the first half defensively, was one of the best halves of defense we played all year,” UTM head coach Kevin McMillan said. “Then in the third quarter, we played one of the worst quarters while EIU started to attack us and we didn’t have an answer. I think we hurt them on the glass, shared the ball and found open people. It’s that time of year that you don’t care how it looks, you just want to keep winning. Thankfully we live to play another day.”
Eastern Illinois (19-12) wrapped up its first winning season since the 2012-13 campaign. The Panthers were led in scoring by Abby Wahl and Taylor Steele with 12 points each while All-OVC first team honoree Karle Pace was limited to just seven points.
UTM will face No. 3 seed Southeast Missouri in the OVC Basketball Championship title game on Saturday, March 7. Tipoff from the Ford Center is scheduled for 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
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