By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The fifth-seeded University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball team held a lead heading into the fourth quarter, but a late 10-0 run by eighth-seeded Morehead State proved to be just enough to pull out the first round upset in the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championship on Wednesday afternoon by a final score of 70-69.
The Skyhawks conclude the season with a 13-17 overall record.
UT Martin held a lead as large as 10 points early in the fourth quarter, but Morehead State would not go down quietly. After holding an eight-point deficit with just under six minutes left to play in the contest, the Eagles rattled off a 10-0 run over the next four and a half minutes to take their first lead since midway through the second quarter. Once the Eagles took the lead with 1:28 to play in the contest, the Skyhawks answered with a bucket of their own to momentarily retake the advantage just 13 seconds later, but failed to get back in the scoring column in the final minute to secure the win.
The Skyhawks placed three players in double figures with OVC Freshman of the Year and All-OVC first team honoree Sharnecce Currie-Jelks scoring a game-high 25 points while narrowly missing out on a double-double with nine rebounds. Fellow All-OVC guard Shae Littleford also eclipsed 20 points with 24 points and five rebounds off the bench. Rounding out the trio was graduate guard Seygan Robins who added 11 points and four steals in her final collegiate contest.
“I thought we were tired and they were fresher than we were today,” UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said. “At the end of the day, they made plays and we didn’t. It came down to the last two minutes and we didn’t score, while they did. I thought defensively our play was good, but we just couldn’t make the plays that we needed to make.”
With the two teams meeting for the second time in as many games, the Eagles flooded the paint where they scored 44 of their 70 points. Sophie Benharouga played a big part in the comeback effort by scoring 18 points – including eight in the fourth quarter. Morehead State had three other players also score in double figures with All-OVC guard Veronica Charles scoring 15 points while Sandra Lin posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information