TSU Slow Start Hurts Lady Tigers in OVC Opener

Martin, Tennessee --- After getting off to slow start in the first quarter, the Tennessee State University women’s basketball team fell to UT Martin, 80-68, Thursday night in Elam Center.

Tennessee State (2-8, 0-1 OVC) trailed UT Martin (5-8, 1-0 OVC) by as many as 14 points before closing to within four points with 4:02 left to play. TSU nearly matched UTM (5-8, 1-0 OVC) point-for-point in the last three quarters but could not overcome the deficit.

Tia Wooten just missed a double-double with 22 points and nine rebounds to lead TSU. Taylor Roberts finished with 12 points off the bench.

The Skyhawks had four players four players in double-digits led by Emanye Robertson's 18 points.

FINAL BOX  |  RADIO CALLS

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• TSU Leaders
• Points: Tia Wooten– 22
• Rebounds: Tia Wooten - 9
• Assists: Maxine Beard - 5
• Steals: Tia Wooten – 5
• Tia Wooten scored 19 of her 22 points in the second half
• TSU shot 82.6 percent (19-of-23) from the free-throw line.
• Rebounds were even 32-32.
• Taylor Roberts went without a score in the first half and posted 12 in the second frame.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• TSU shot 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from the field and committed 11 turnovers in the first quarter.
• The Lady Tigers trailed, 19-11, heading into the second period and fell behind by double-digits, 26-15, midway through the quarter.
• TSU held UTM without a field goal for the final 2:38 of the quarter and managed to cut the deficit to, 34-26, heading into the break.
• Heading into the final frame, the score was 58-48, in favor of UTM.
• Although TSU played UTM even through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers continued to trail.
• TSU trailed, 66-56, with 4:26 remaining
• On the next possession, an old fashioned three-point play from Tia Wooten sparked a 6-0 run that pulled TSU to within four.
• The home team, however, managed to build its lead back up to double-digits with 2:21 remaining.
• Down the stretch, TSU was forced to foul.

GAME NOTES

• UTM now leads the all-time series 32-30
• Tia Wooten scored in double-digits for the 10th consecutive game.

QUOTE

Head Coach Jessica Kern

"I keep saying our kids fight, fight, fight. We keep fighting all the way to the end. A twelve-point loss isn’t indicative of how the game went. We need to go ahead and foul down the stretch and try to get the ball back, but your girl Tia Wooten… Boy she just keeps showing up. She had a sub-par first half and showed up in the second. Taylor Roberts got it going, but Asia Sims started us off when we needed to score. So, we’re putting the pieces together. This was a tough, literally physically tough, game tonight, and we’ve got a quick turnaround. We’ve got to go to Southeast Missouri. This was our first OVC game and now I know what my youngbodies know what it’s going to be like, and we live to play another day."
-Overview of the game

“We’ve got the fight. We’ve consistently shown that we’re a good third-and-fourth quarter team. We are now evening it out in the second. We have to start games better. We can’t continue to dig ourselves into a hole. So, as a staff, we’re going to meet here immediately. There’s no off-time. We have to figure out how to fix that, get our kids in active recovery, and then get them out of here to get some rest.”

-On takeaways 

UP NEXT

• TSU continues OVC action on Saturday, Dec. 30 with a contest at Southeast Missouri. Game time is set for noon in the Show Me Center.

TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS