Hayes, Golden Eagles escape with OVC win at Tennessee State
In one of the team’s most intense finishes this season, Tacarra Hayes scored a career-high 41 points and Tennessee Tech hung on for a heart-stopping, 76-73 OVC victory at Tennessee State Monday night.
NASHVLLE, Tenn. – In one of the team’s most intense
finishes this season, Tennessee Tech hung on for a heart-stopping,
76-73 Ohio Valley Conference victory at Tennessee State Monday
night in the Gentry Center.
Sophomore Tacarra Hayes scored a career-best 41 points –
tied for the eighth-highest game in school history and the top
scoring game this year in the OVC – to lead Tech to the
important road win.
The Golden Eagles improved to 12-14 overall and 7-9 in the tight
OVC race with two league games remaining. Tennessee State, which
had taken a three-point win over the Golden Eagles in January, saw
its mark dip to 9-15 overall and 6-9 in the league.
Hayes was 13-for-20 from the field and 15-for-19 at the free throw
line on the way to her 41-point performance. She also had nine
rebounds, five assists and three steals.
She was the only Tech player in double digits, but several other
Golden Eagles chipped in with clutch points. Kellie Cook had nine
points and Tiarra Hopper added eight points and five rebounds.
Kylie Cook scored seven including a key 3-pointer late in the game.
Rachel Glidden scored six, including three free throws at crunch
time.
TSU was led by Meredith Stafford with 23 points and six rebounds,
including a pair of big 3-pointers in the final minutes. Oby Okafor
added 11 points and 11 rebounds while Jasmin Shuler finished with
eight points.
Tech pushed out to a 10-point lead in the fist seven minutes,
going up 17-7 as Hayes scored 10 of the first 17 points. The Tigers
worked the difference down over the next seven minutes, tying the
game with 5:01 remaining. The score was tied a total of seven times
in the first half before TSU took a 40-35 lead into halftime.
The Tigers were up 44-38 early in the second half but Tech came
back with a 6-0 run to tie the game for the eighth time. The
contest was knotted one more time, 57-57, with 7:56 to play before
a free throw by Hayes put Tech on top by one. Kylie Cook hit a
3-pointer and Kellie Cook followed with a layup to lift Tech to a
six-point lead, but that wasn’t safe.
The Tigers came clawing back with a 7-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer
from Stafford with 5:23 remaining to put TSU up 64-63.
Nursing a one-point lead, 66-65, the Golden Eagles got a critical
3-pointer from Kellie Cook with 4:07 remaining for a four-point
lead. From there, the Golden Eagles hit six of their next eight
free throws, including two by Rachel Glidden with 41 seconds left
for a four-point lead.
They proved to be the difference as Stafford hit a 3-pointer with
28 seconds left to cut the difference to one.
Glidden hit one free throw with 20 seconds to play and Kellie Cook
came up with a steal with seven seconds left. The missed two free
throws with six ticks on the clock, but TSU turned over the ball
with two seconds left and Hayes added one charity toss for the
final margin.
Tech has the remainder of the week to prepare for its next game, a
Saturday night contest at Austin Peay tipping off at 7 p.m.
