STRONG DAY OFFENSIVELY LIFTS SKYHAWKS TO 80-63 ROAD WIN AT MOREHEAD STATE

Saturday, January 23

Morehead, Ky.

Noon (CT)

UT Martin

7-3, 6-1OVC

Morehead State

5-9, 4-6OVC

UT Martin

Morehead State

STRONG DAY OFFENSIVELY LIFTS SKYHAWKS TO 80-63 ROAD WIN AT MOREHEAD STATE

1/23/2021 3:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score PDF Photo Gallery

MOREHEAD, Ky. – The University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team put the finishing touches on a perfect road trip through the Blue Grass State with an 80-63 win at Ohio Valley Conference foe Morehead State on Saturday afternoon.

The Skyhawks (7-3, 6-1 OVC) picked up their fifth straight victory behind a strong shooting performance and three players in double figures. UT Martin registered its fifth road win of the season and third consecutive against the Eagles – including back-to-back in Johnson Arena.

UT Martin struggled offensively in the first quarter – shooting just 29 percent from the floor – but found its stroke for the final three quarters by shooting 61 percent for the final 30 minutes of action. The Skyhawks also capitalized at the free throw stripe where they made 16-of-19 attempts (84.2 percent). The visitors used a key 16-0 run in the second quarter to find a lead it would not relinquish in the second half.

Senior Chelsey Perry turned in yet another game worthy of her All-American accolades with 28 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks, three assists and two steals. The game marked her 10^th consecutive game with at least 20 points and her 16^th career double-double.

Sophomore Dasia Young gave the Eagles fits throughout the contest with a career-best performance, tallying 22 points on 10-of-14 field goal attempts while also tallying five rebounds and two blocks. It marked the first 20-point performance for Young and just the second time this season that a pair of Skyhawks had scored 20 points or more in the same contest. Junior Paige Pipkin rounded out the Skyhawks in double figures with 14 points to post a career-high of her own while also grabbing four rebounds and tallying two assists and a pair of blocks.

Gallery: (1-23-2021) WBB at Morehead State

"Today we saw flashes of the type of team that we could be and that was exciting," UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said. "I thought that our effort has gotten better and as long as we handle that, we can start working on other stuff. We had some let downs on other things when we had control of the game and I was a little disappointed in that but overall, I was pleased with how we played. Dasia came out and was a force today. The team's effort was there and if we can keep going up, we will be pretty good."

"There were two stretches of this game where I saw us clicking like I think we really could and that was fun to see," McMillan continued. "We flirted today with being dominant. Dominant doesn't mean that we will win every game, but it means that we can really control the tempo and do what we want. I think we can do that, and we are close, but we still have a lot of work to do."

Morehead State (5-9, 4-6 OVC) struggled from the field for much of the afternoon outside of an impressive third quarter which posed its biggest threat in the second half. The Eagles would shoot just 38 percent from the field but would make a good number of their attempts from beyond the arc where they knocked down 46.7 percent of their attempts to stay within striking distance.

The Eagle duo of Ariel Kirkwood and Lauren Carter paced the team with 17 points and six rebounds each while Gabby Crawford posted a team-high seven rebounds in the loss.

UT Martin will return home on Tuesday, Jan. 26 to open a six-game homestand when playing host to Belmont. Tipoff from the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center is scheduled for 5 p.m.