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Women fly over Eagles, fall to Colonels on Kentucky road trip


Sophomore Andreika Jackson shot 60 percent from the field and knocked down 16 points to lead the UTM to a 55-50 win over host Morehead State Thursday night in Ellis T. Johnson Arena.

The win was the fourth consecutive Ohio Valley Conference win for the Skyhawks.

Skyhawk first-year head coach Tara Tansil was happy to escape Morehead with the conference win, but she was not overly pleased with the way her team played.

“We had to fight hard to win,” Tansil said. “We knew it was going to be tough to win at Morehead because they are 5-1 in here.”

The Skyhawks led by nine points at the half, 28-19, and enjoyed a nine-point lead on several occasions in the second half.

With 4:19 to play in the game, Morehead State knotted the score at 46-all as Jessi Plante completed an old fashion three-point play. The Skyhawks rallied with a 5-0 run as Rivers canned a three-pointer with 3:49 to play and Jackson sank a layup at the 2:46 mark.

The Skyhawks sealed the win with four consecutive free throws in the final 52 seconds.

On Saturday night, the Skyhawks kept things interesting, but Eastern Kentucky defeated UTM on their home court in Richmond, Ky., , ending the Skyhawks four-game Ohio Valley Conference winning streak.

Eastern Kentucky posted a 73-63 win over the Skyhawks. Freshman Ashley Cazee led the Lady Colonels with 17 points.

The last time UTM posted such a streak was during the 1999-2000 season.

The Skyhawks kept the game close, never letting the lead exceed 12-points, but they were unable to get within 3-points of the lead after halftime.

“EKU was a very physical game, it was hard for us to play, especially getting into early foul trouble with Andreika Jackson and Jenny Lannom,” said.

The Skyhawks missed Jackson, who got into foul trouble early in the game, posting two fouls in the first three minutes of play.

This is the first time this season a conference opponent has held Jackson to single digit points and only the fourth time this season that any opponent has accomplished that feat.

The Skyhawks’ bench gave some important minutes during the night, with 12 players seeing action.

“We had to turn to our bench, they gave a great effort in the first half,” said Tansil.

“Tiffany Arnold played her best game all season. Hopefully she will build on that.”

Arnold, a sophomore forward, led 10 Skyhawks with a career-high 16 points in 16 minutes, shooting 7-7 from the floor and 2-3 from behind the foul line.

Senior guard Danielle Page posted 10 points and 8 assists, and was 2-5 from the floor with 5-5 from behind the foul line.

Jackson and Senior Leigh Ann Davidson each posted 4 rebounds for the Skyhawks, who were out rebounded by the Colonels 36-32. “We didn’t play our best defensively in the end. We let them take a lot of open shots, didn’t box out and missed about 10 free throws. That alone could have made the difference,” said Tansil.

The Skyhawks look to extend their OVC wins to 6 as they host Southeast Missouri Thursday February 3; Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. (CT).

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NANCY TAGGART / The Richmond Register

A host of Skyhawks try and take control of the ball against Lady Colonel Ashley Cazee Saturday night in Richmond. EKU snapped the Skyhawks four-game OVC winning streak, the longest since the 1999-2000 season.