Turnovers and the inability to guard without fouling proved to be the Lady Tigers’ undoing as they fell at Western Illinois 76-59. Tennessee State committed 24 turnovers, which led to 26 Leatherneck points. Although Tennessee State shot 87.5 (14-16) from the charity stripe, Western Illinois shot 26 free throws, converting 20 of them.
Tennessee State got off a good start, taking an early 14-5 lead before a 10-4 spurt over the remaining 5:02 of the period trimmed the lead to 18-15 as the game headed into the second quarter. Sadie Sanchez opened the quarter with a shot from downtown to give the Lady Tigers a 21-15 lead at the 9:50 mark of the frame. The Leathernecks eventually tied the game at 23 on Mallory Shetley’s layup with 5:47 remaining in the period. TSU took a 27-23 lead on Sanchez’s jump shot but that lead was short-lived as a 10-0 burst from WIU put them up 33-27 and took a 35-29 lead heading into halftime.
The Lady Tigers stumbled in the third quarter, scoring as many points (9) as they had turnovers. It was in this period that Western pushed their lead to double digits for the first time at 48-38 on a Madison Davis layup.
The Leathernecks took a 50-38 lead into the contest’s final stanza and unfortunately for the Lady Tigers, they were only able to cut into that lead by a single point on two separate occasions Mia Nicastro’s jumper pushed Western Illinois’ lead to 20 for the first time at 67-47 with 3:50 left in the contest and built as much as a 21 point advantage. Xai Whitfield’s three-pointer with 0:06 remaining brought the game to its final count of 76-59.
Tennessee State, which shot just 36.4% from the floor, was led by Aaniya Webb with 12 points. She was the only Lady Tiger in double figures. Mia Nicastro led four Western Illinois players in double figures with 20 points; Madison Davis and Addi Brownfield scored 12 apiece with Mallory Shetley adding 11 points of her own.
The loss, which is their third in a row, drops the Lady Tigers to 2-12 on the season. Saturday TSU returns to action against Eastern Illinois. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 pm CST.
