Big nights from McCully and Williams not enough as Tennessee Tech downs SEMO WBB 79-66

SEMO senior Lexi McCully dribbles at halfcourt against Little Rock on Tuesday, Jan. 14, at the Show Me Center.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — Lexi McCully and Ainay Williams both found their groove in a big way, but it was not enough to help Southeast Missouri State women’s keep up with Tennessee Tech on Thursday night at the Eblen Center.

The Redhawks played from behind the entire game en route to dropping a 79-66 loss to their conference foe, marking the program's fifth straight loss.

McCully and Williams led the charge for the SEMO (4-13, 2-6 OVC) offense, logging 21 and 22 points, respectively. Williams was one rebound shy of finishing with a double-double after hauling in nine. Skylar Barnes also chipped in with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field.

Tennessee Tech (11-5, 5-2) entered the game ranked first in the OVC in rebounds (39.3 per game) and dominated in that category on Thursday, outrebounding SEMO 40 to 27 to overpower the road Redhawks on the glass.

SEMO quickly fell behind in the early stages as Tech sprinted out to an 18-6 run behind eight Anna Walker points on top of five Redhawk turnovers.

Despite Barnes’ 10-point first half, SEMO trailed by no less than 12 points for the remainder of the frame. The Golden Eagles shot at a stout 60% clip from the field, with two players — Walker and Keeley Carter — hitting double digits to give them a 48-31 lead at the break.

SEMO hinted at a potential comeback with 7:30 left after cutting the deficit to eight off a McCully jumper. That’s until Tech answered with a 10-4 run to take a 74-62 lead with 2:27 remaining. Taris Thornton hit a slick alley-oop dunk during the spurt as the Golden Eagles continued to prance away with it.

The Redhawks turned to their starters to try to stem the tide, but couldn’t handle Tech’s pace, while the Golden Eagles upped their defensive pressure.

Led by Walker (15) and Reghan Grimes (16), Tech had six players score double digits on the night.

The Golden Eagles also did a good job containing the promising freshman Zoe Best, who was limited to just two points the entire game upon entering the night with eight straight double-digit scoring games.

Newcomer Da’Kariya Jackson did not suit up for SEMO, either.

Big Picture

SEMO ran into a quality Tech bunch at the wrong time.

While it was a one-sided affair on Thursday, a failure to close out games has been the narrative of this Redhawks team up to this point in the season. The talent is there, as evidenced by players such as the freshman Best, McCully, and Jackson, but an inability to play a full 40 minutes has made the difference in the majority of SEMO’s losses.

What’s next?

SEMO’s three-game road stretch continues next Thursday, Jan. 23, when the team heads to St. Charles for a matchup against Lindenwood (9-6, 5-1) at 5 p.m.