The Ohio Valley Conference’s Preseason Player of the Year Brooke Armistead sat on the Austin Peay bench with a smile on her face. It was the second consecutive game Armistead missed because of an injury.

Austin Peay didn’t miss the senior superstar as it turned back Tennessee-Martin 81-58 Thursday night in the Dunn Center.

Freshman Kera Bergeron, from Nashville, netted 15 second-half points to make up for Armistead’s absence. She scored six unanswered points to open the second half and then nailed three treys.

Meanwhile, the Skyhawks struggled offensively. The Skyhawks played the final 6:36 of the game without a field goal.

The Skyhawks scored half of their second-half points from the free throw line. Amy Watson led the effort with 14 points, while Julie Young tossed in a dozen points.

The Skyhawks struggled from the field hitting only 34 percent. However, the Skyhawks hit 87 percent from the free throw line. Young was perfect from the line, hitting eight-of-eight attempts. In the first half, Austin Peay used a combination of scoring from the inside and from the perimeter to build a 40-24 lead. Gerlonda Hardin supplied eight points and the inside power.

Cassandra Peek and Paige Smith lived on the three-point arch. Peek netted four treys, while Smith hit a pair for 18 of Austin Peay’s 40-first-half points.

Austin Peay shot 60 percent from three-point range and 55 percent from the field. The Lady Govs were perfect at the charity stripe on four tries.

The Skyhawks shot 40 percent from the field and 37 percent from the arch. Jenny Lannom and Amy Watson led the scoring effort with six first-half points each.

The Skyhawk women return to action Saturday, Feb. 1 when they travel to Murray, Ky., to face the Lady Racers. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. in the Regional Special Events Center (R.S.E.C.). The Ohio Valley Conference’s Preseason Player of the Year Brooke Armistead sat on the Austin Peay bench with a smile on her face. It was the second consecutive game Armistead missed because of an injury.

Austin Peay didn’t miss the senior superstar as it turned back Tennessee-Martin 81-58 Thursday night in the Dunn Center. Freshman Kera Bergeron, from Nashville, netted 15 second-half points to make up for Armistead’s absence. She scored six unanswered points to open the second half and then nailed three treys.

Meanwhile, the Skyhawks struggled offensively. The Skyhawks played the final 6:36 of the game without a field goal.

The Skyhawks scored half of their second-half points from the free throw line. Amy Watson led the effort with 14 points, while Julie Young tossed in a dozen points.

The Skyhawks struggled from the field hitting only 34 percent. However, the Skyhawks hit 87 percent from the free throw line. Young was perfect from the line, hitting eight-of-eight attempts. The Skyhawks were in action two other times in the past week, knocking off conference leaders Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky.

UTM beat EKU 70-62 Monday night in Skyhawk Arena. Eastern Kentucky led throughout the first half despite the 17 turnovers. The Lady Colonels? biggest lead was nine points with 10:26 to play in the opening half. With one minute to go before the break, EKU?s Teresa McNair hit a jumper to make the score 33-25. The Skyhawks went to the locker room down by the eight points at the half.

EKU stretched the lead to 15 points early in the second half, but the Skyhawks battled back. With 12:08 to play in the contest, sophomore Leigh Ann Davidson, from Jackson, Tenn., canned a three-pointer to give the Skyhawks a 45-43 lead. It was the first lead of the game for the Skyhawks. The Lady Colonels grabbed a one-point lead with 5:06 to play, but the Skyhawks answered a minute later with a Torre Thomas three-pointer. The Skyhawks never trailed again.

Senior Amy Watson led the Skyhawks and all scorers with 25 points and seven rebounds. Junior Tiffany Brundige tossed in 13 points and dished out six assists. The Skyhawks shot 38 percent from the field in the game, but the biggest difference came at the free throw line, where they hit 94 percent of their free throws. Brundige and sophomore Danielle Page were perfect from the charity line. Brundige hit six free throws, while Page tossed in four. Watson was six-of-seven from the line. This game followed an 83-77 win over Moreheed State on Saturday.

Junior Julie Young turned in a career-high 28 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Skyhawks against Morehead State. Young was nine-for-11 from the field and 10-of-13 from the free throw line. Senior Amy Watson, from Lynchburg, Tenn., scored her 1,000-career point in the game. She finished with 18 points. Sophomore Danielle Page also finished in double digits with 11 points.

The Skyhawks trailed early in the first half, but took the lead for good when Young hit a jumper with 17:19 left before the break. In the second half, the Skyhawks led by as many as 14 points. They were able to shoot 52 percent from the field in the second half, while they struggled from the arch. The Skyhawks shot 33 percent from the land of three in the second half.