By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball trailed by as much as 10 points in the second half before finishing the game on a 23-2 run to not only erase the deficit but motor past visiting Arkansas State with a 73-54 victory on Monday evening.
The Skyhawks (1-1) picked up their first win of the season behind a blistering second half which featured the team shooting 55.2 percent from the field in the final two quarters while limiting the Red Wolves to just 21 points.
After facing a deficit as large as 10 points with 6:55 to play in the third quarter, UT Martin rallied down the stretch to ultimately trim the margin down to one point with 13 seconds to play. Then once in the fourth quarter, the Skyhawks buckled down to limited the Red Wolves to just six points while finishing the game on a 23-2 run.
Graduate guard Paige Pipkin played a big role in the comeback victory by scoring a game-high 23 points – including notching 16 of those points in the second half. The Skyhawks also got strong performances from a pair of underclassmen as sophomore Shae Littleford and freshman Kenley McCarn scored 19 points each. Littleford stuffed the stat sheet along with her point total as she registered six assists, five rebounds and no turnovers.
After committing an uncharacteristically high 29 turnovers in the season opener, the Skyhawks tightened it up in their encore performance. UT Martin committed just six turnovers in the contest while capitalizing on 19 forced turnovers which led directly to 23 points. The Skyhawks also pounded the paint and the boards to win both categories – including scoring 40 points in the paint.
“Well I told them that I thought we were getting decent shots and that I made a bunch of mistakes defensively in the first half that cost us,” UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said. “It seemed like every time I made a mistake, they made a shot. Then in the second half we kind of grinded it out and made some big plays after we got down. This was a team that executes well and has really good shooting guards, so we knew we had a challenge. I thought we got better though as the game went along and we made some big shots late.”
Arkansas State (0-2) dropped its second consecutive contest after leading at the half. The Red Wolves found a balanced effort from their squad as three players scored in double figures. Guard Mailyn Wilkerson paced the team with 14 points while both Izzy Higginbottom and Jade Upshaw also cashed in 10 points each. Meanwhile, Annaliese Griffin flirted with a double-double after tallying eight points and 13 rebounds in the contest.
UT Martin will now hit the road for a lengthy four-game road trip beginning with a matchup at Southeastern Conference foe Missouri on Thursday, Nov. 17.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information