image via Tennessee State Basketball
It was a rough day at the office for the Tennessee State Lady Tigers Southern Illinois pounced on them early and did not look back as TSU was unceremoniously sent packing in the first round of the OVC Tournament, 90-66 at the hands of USI, a team they had defeated 73-64 four days previously in the season finale.
Although the Lady Tigers took a brief 2-0 lead off a Kiki Roberts steal and layup at the 9:24 mark. From there it went downhill, rather quickly, as USI went on a 17-0 run over a 4:04 stretch in which TSU went 0-5 from the field and committed 4 turnovers, to claim a 17-2 lead. USI quickly went about building their advantage to 20 on the path to building as much as a 35-7 lead before the quarter mercifully ended with TSU on the wrong side of a 35-10 score.
The Lady Tigers were a tad more efficient in the second quarter, shooting 7-17, as opposed to the 4-16 from the opening period, and committing just 1 turnover, a far cry from the 7 miscues committed in the first quarter. Despite the improved offensive performance, Tennessee State was only able to trim 2 points off the USI lead, as they allowed the Screaming Eagles to connect on 8-14 from the floor, including 3-6 from downtown, and took a 56-33 lead into halftime.
The teams played to an offensive stalemate in the third quarter with each team scoring 16 points that left the Screaming Eagles up 72-49 heading into the fourth quarter.
Tennessee State drew as close as 74-60 on a XaiOnna Whitfield three-pointer at the 6:56 mark, however, Southern Illinois responded with a 10-0 run to push the advantage to 84-60 and would cruise to a comfortable 90-66 win to advance to the next round in the OVC Tournament where they will face #4 Little Rock Thursday at 12:30 pm CST.
Somah Kamara led the Lady Tigers with 17 points; Saniah Parker, the only other TSU player in double figures, added 3 points of her own.
Tennessee State ends the season at 10-21 overall and 6-14 within the OVC in year one under head coach Candice Dupree. However, the Lady Tigers showed resilience, overcoming a 10-game losing streak within the season to win crucial games coming down the stretch of the season to qualify for the conference tournament.
