The Skyhawks followed up their home loss to Missouri with a 93-77 victory over the Purple Aces of Evansville.
UTM jumped out to a 21-11 lead over the Purple Aces with 12:15 remaining in the first half. Of those 21, freshman Tiara Caldwell had 10.
With the half winding down, Evansville pulled within seven points, but UTM built up a 16 point lead and took the game to the half with the score 52-16.
Evansville wasn’t able to overcome the early deficit in the second half. Despite pulling within six points with 8:02 left, the Purple Aces weren’t able to take the lead before suffering a 16 point loss.
The Skyhawks had four plays with double-digit points on the night: Heather Butler, Jasmine Newsome, Tiara Caldwell and Ashia Jones.
“We’re trying to become a more balanced team and score from multiple positions,” said head coach Kevin McMillan.” … Anytime we can have four players in double-digits, we’ll take it. … If we’re going to take that next step as a program we’re going to have to find that balance.”
Butler finished the game with a team-highs with 34 points and seven rebounds.
Newsome, who spent a lot of the second half on the bench, had 14 points and a team-high 9 assists.
“[Newsome] was breathing really hard in the first half and couldn’t seem to get her wind,” said McMillan. “I didn’t know what it was. I mean, I tried to rest her some, but then in the second half she wasn’t doing anything so we just let her set there and let everybody else play.”
Caldwell totaled 12 points and was second on the team with six rebounds, five were defensive.
Jones ended the game with 10 points and five rebounds.
The Skyhawks will travel to Moon Township, Penn. to take part in the Robert Morris Tournament Nov. 29-30. They are scheduled to take on Winthrop on Friday, Nov. 29 at 3 p.m. and Northern Kentucky, Saturday, Nov. 30 at 12:30 p.m.
