With the potential to play in the OVC Tournament still in play, the Lady Tigers of Tennessee State were able to defeat Southern Illinois 73-64 and secure the final spot in the upcoming Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
The opening minutes of the first quarter saw a pair of ties and five lead changes before Lyric Cole’s jumper put TSU up 8-6 at the 6:52 mark of the frame. From there a 10-2 burst gave the Lady Tigers an 18-8 lead before Vanessa Shafford’s jumper trimmed the lead to 18-10 heading into the second quarter.
Connecting Tennessee State built their advantage to as much as 26-12 on XaiOnna Whitfield’s jumper at the 8:26 mark. For the remainder of the quarter, TSU shot just 2-13 from the floor committed 4 turnovers, and scored just 7 more points. USI was able to capitalize on the offensive struggles of the Lady Tigers, whittling the TSU lead down to three at 33-30 on an Amiyah Buchanan free throw with 11 seconds left in the half.
Southern Illinois took their first lead since leading 6-5 with 7:26 left in the first quarter when Ali Saunders’ three-pointer put the Screaming Eagles up 35-33 with 9:11 left in the quarter. That lead lasted just 22 seconds, as TSU tied the game on Cole’s jumper and a Saniah Parker layup that put the Lady Tigers back in front at 37-35. Tennessee State took as much as a 15-point lead at 55-40 and would ultimately enjoy a 57-45 after thirty minutes of play.
Despite shooting just 3-14 from the floor in the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers were able to get to the charity stripe, where they knocked down 9 of their 10 attempts, Even with the TSU’s offensive struggles, USI was not able to get within single figures until Triniti’s Ralston connected from downtown to make the score 71-62 with 0:27 left in the contest. A deuce from each team brought the score to its final count of 73-64.
Aaliyah Webb led 3 Lady Tigers in double figures with 17 points; XaiOnna Whitfield added 15 points of her own, while Saniah Parker contributed 12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
The Lady Tigers, winners of their last 2 regular season games, now head into the OVC Tournament as the 8-seed, where they will once again meet up with the 5-seed Screaming Eagles on Wednesday at 12:30 CST.
