The Skyhawk women lost a heart breaker Thursday evening against the OVC’s top ranked Tennessee Tech Eaglettes, 48-41.

Junior forward Deina Willingham put together an all-around outstanding game as she led the Skyhawks with 9 rebounds and a career-high 19 points.

The Skyhawks completely dominated the beginning of the game with great interior defense and patience on offense.

Tennessee Tech made it clear early that they wanted to involve their standout senior Emily Christian. Christian ranks fifth among all active Division I players with 2,041 points and ninth in the country in scoring with 20.7 points per night. However, she was unable to convert any of her early opportunities and Martin jumped out to an early 16 - 2 lead at the 8:46 mark in the first half.

Tennessee Tech’s coach, Bill Worell, called a timeout and his team responded with a full court press. The press seemed to cause problems for the Skyhawks as they were forced to use most of the shot clock attempting to break the pressure put on by Tech’s four guard line-up.

This led to less ball movement in the half court set, and Martin was forced into several desperation shots at the buzzer and three shot clock violations.

Tennessee Tech guard Meagon Lyons, who had 14 points and 5 rebounds, knocked down a couple of jumpers to spark a run for the Eaglettes to close out the half. Cara Reed came off the bench and added six of her 10 points as Tech finished the half on a 14--6 run.

The Skyhawks led 22-16 at the half as they shot 9-for-24 (37.5%) from the field, compared to Tennessee Tech’s 5-for-26 (19.2%). The second half began pretty much like the first half ended. Tech came out with the press and Martin struggled with three consecutive turnovers to spark a 14-4 run to grab the lead at 30-26 after a jump shot by Emily Christian at the 14:00 mark.

Free throws allowed the Skyhawks to remain in the game before a pair of jumpers and a three pointer from Deina Willingham cut Tech’s lead to 37-36 at the 5:07 mark.

Christian responded with a jump shot of her own to put the Eaglettes up 39-36, and Willingham found teammate Kimberly Cox open for only three pointer of the night to tie the game at 39.

Back-to-back baskets by Christian and a pair of free throws by Jana Reece gave Tennessee Tech a 45-39 advantage over the Skyhawks. Willingham managed to hit another jump shot off an assist from Crystal Fuller to cut the lead to four. Martin had a chance to cut the lead to two, but a costly turnover led to another Christian field goal. Christian couldn’t be stopped down the stretch as she scored 10 of her game-high 22 points in the final 5:26 of the game.

UTM dominated the boards as they out rebounded Tech 40-25, including 14 offensive rebounds which led to 11 second chance points. Junior Andrieka Jackson had a game-high 12 rebounds, including 7 offensive rebounds.

The game was played at an extremely fast pace from beginning to end, but great defense by both teams kept the score close until the end. In fact, the score was tied three times and there were seven lead changes.

Tennessee Tech had a clear advantage with bench points at 10-0, all by Reed. Tech shot 14-for-24 (58.3%) from the field in the second half.

Senior guard Keva Robinson was the only player other than Willingham to score double figures with 10 points as she attempted a career-high nine three pointers.

Westview standout graduate Kendall Cavin, who averages 13.8 points for Tech, came home against UTM for the first time this season and shot 0-for-9 from the field. Only three Tennessee Tech players managed to score a field goal all game.

Coach Tansil was very pleased with her team’s effort all night, and she looks for Willingham and Jackson to remain just as aggressive the rest of the season.

With the loss, UTM falls to 6-14 overall and 4-8 in the OVC. Tech moves to 15-6 and 11-3 as they continue to stay atop the OVC.