SIUE women lose tight game to UT Martin

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - In a battle of the top two women's basketball teams in the Ohio Valley Conference, UT Martin recorded a 79-72 victory over SIUE Saturday at the Vadalabene Center.

UT Martin improved to 18-9 overall and 14-0 in the OVC while SIUE dropped to 16-11 and 11-3 in the OVC. It was the annual Pink Zone game for the Cougars to raise awareness and funds for the St. Louis affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The Skyhawks used a 12-2 run to start the game and maintained the lead for the rest of the game. SIUE came within two points with 10:13 to play in the game but couldn't garner the lead.

"You have to give UT Martin a lot of credit," said SIUE Head Coach Paula Buscher. "They came out hard in the first four minutes and I thought we were too passive. We didn't control the tempo well at all, and that was the difference in the game."

Shronda Butts led the Cougars in scoring with 16 points. Gwen Adams and Tierny Austin added 15 and 14 points, respectively.

"We took care of the basketball and executed better in the second half," said Buscher. "We came up with some big defensive plays."

UT Martin hit seven three-pointers in the first half and nine for the game. Jessy Ward led the three-point shooters with five, finishing with 17 points. Katie Schubert, who had two three-pointers, was the game's leading scorer with 21 points. Ashia Jones added 20.

The Skyhawks shot 48.2 percent from the field (27-56) while the Cougars hit 43.3 percent of their shots (26-60).

"We need to defend better," said Buscher. "We lost our focus a little defensively. We have to have more composure against their press."

SIUE outrebounded UT Martin 37-31.

The Cougars, who are aiming to grab the No. 2 seed for next month's OVC Tournament, have two more home games left on the schedule. SIUE faces Southeast Missouri Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Eastern Illinois Saturday at 2 p.m.

"I love this group," Buscher said. "They are a great group of student-athletes who play extremely hard for each other. I like that we continue to fight and play hard. We'll bounce back and be better from it."

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