HTML STATS | PDF STATS | ARCHIVED BROADCAST
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech women’s basketball team raced out 10-0 advantage and never looked back in a 73-53 victory over Morehead State on Saturday night at the Eblen Center.
The Golden Eagles improve to 18-11 overall, 12-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 10-5 at home with their third straight win. The Eagles end their season 9-21 overall and 5-11 in league action.
Tennessee Tech forced 12 first-half turnovers and held Morehead State to 33 percent (7-of-21) from the floor before intermission. The Golden Eagles took a 35-17 lead to the locker room at the break.
Tennessee Tech pushed its advantage to a game-high 24 points with 8:13 to play. The Golden Eagles finished +17 (43-26) in the rebounding department and +5 (11-16) in the turnover battle.
“Give Tennessee Tech a lot of credit,” Head Coach Tom Hodges said. “The jumped on us early and dictated the pace tonight. They are playing very good basketball heading into the OVC Tournament.”
Senior guard Jala Harris led Tennessee Tech with 22 points, four rebounds and four assists, while senior guard Lashay Davis added 21 points and four steals. The duo combined to knock down 16-of-28 from the field, 7-of-12 from long distance and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
“This is certainly a disappointing end to what has been a very long year for us,” Hodges said. “We will have to work very hard this off-season. We definitely need to grow and mature as a team.”
Junior guard Terrice Robinson paced Morehead State with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-21 overall and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Robinson finished the year with 524 points, good enough for eighth on the MSU single season chart. She also finished the campaign with 30 consecutive made free throws.
Freshman guard Kailee Howe scored 11 points -- her second-highest total of 2012-13 -- on 5-of-9 shooting.
Sophomore forward Mackenzie Arledge pulled down a team-best seven rebounds for the Eagles, while Robinson collected team highs of three assists and two steals.
Tennessee Tech posted advantages of 25-8 in points off turnovers and 11-0 in second chance points. The Golden Eagles registered a 14-2 edge on the offensive glass.
“There are several over-riding themes that we will take away from this season,” Hodges said. “We need to focus on finishing, toughness and physicality. Those are all important for us.”
MSU finishes the year with six setbacks in its final eight games.
“When we step away from the season, we will appreciate some of the things we did this year, despite the poor record,” Hodges said. “We certainly can’t dwell on negatives. We just need to focus on getting better. In a lot of ways, preparation for the 2013-14 season begins tomorrow.”
Hodges stayed positive towards the future in his post-game remarks.
“Morehead State is a great place to work, and I’m still very proud to be an Eagle,” he added. “I can promise our fans that we will work as hard as possible to get this women’s basketball program back to where it should be -- and that’s towards the top of the Ohio Valley Conference.”
