Golden Eagles fall to Belmont 70-49 in final road game of regular season
The Tennessee Tech women’s basketball team suffered a 70-49 loss in their last regular season road contest at Belmont in a Saturday afternoon contest.
By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team (10-18, 6-9 OVC) suffered a 70-49 loss in their last regular season road contest at Belmont (19-8, 11-3 OVC) in a Saturday afternoon contest.
A 28-point fourth quarter helped seal a Bruin victory over the Golden Eagles. Belmont controlled the momentum of the game leading for 30:38 minutes of the contest. Three Bruins scored in double figures while two only two Golden Eagles did. Belmont's Kylee Smith had the game-high 21 points. Samaria Howard led the Golden Eagles with 18 points, while teammate Tia Nicholson notched seven points and eight rebounds.
Howard started the game off strong hitting two three's within the first three minutes of the game to give Tech the 6-2 lead over Belmont. However, the Bruins quickly picked up the pace and held a tie with the Golden Eagles at 12-12 by the end of the first.
Things slowly shifted into the second quarter as Belmont proved their dominance. The Bruins held the Golden Eagles to a scoring drought until the 6:22 mark when a foul on the Bruin's Jenny Roy sent Howard to the line to drop two and close within Belmont by one at 15-14. At the half, Belmont had extended their lead to six-points at 28-22 with a made free throw from Darby Maggard.
At the half, Belmont and Tech were each shooting 32.1 percent from the field. The Golden Eagles shot 66.7 percent from the 3-point range compared to the Bruin's 10 percent from beyond the arc, however, Belmont outrebounded the Golden Eagles 23-15 but gave up seven turnovers to Tech's five.
Things were tight in the third quarter Belmont adding 14 points to Tech's 13 to push the score to 42-35 in favor of the Bruins. Belmont ran away with it in the fourth when they created a 10-point lead at 50-40 when Maggard knocked down two at the charity stripe. Belmont continued to hold a solid offense and defense and pushed their lead to 60-45 before closing out a 70-49 victory over the Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles shot 35.7 percent from the floor compared to Belmont's 44.6 percent in the contest. The Bruins outrebounded the Golden Eagles 46-26 and committed just 17 fouls to Tech's 23.
Tech returns to action on Feb. 27, when the Golden Eagles host Eastern Kentucky in their last regular season contest for Senior Night.
