In her first season as head coach, Tara Tansil took the Skyhawk women’s basketball team back to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Unfortunately, they faced league rival Tennessee Tech, who had previously defeated the Skyhawks at home, in the first round.

As the game opened, it looked as though the women’s team might be headed for the upset, keeping the Eagles scoreless for the first four minutes.

Tech answered the Skyhawks’ 4-0 run, scoring 12 unanswered points and pulling out to a 31-18 lead going into the break.

In the first half, the Skyhawks shot only 7-26 from the field and were only 50 percent from the line. They were 0-7 from beyond the arc.

The second half didn’t fair much better for UTM, as the Eagles still had an 11 point lead with 10 minutes left in the game.

The Skyhawks wouldn’t be able to pull any closer than the 11 point margin, and ultimately finished the game with Tech out on top, 70-51.

For the game, the Skyhawks were only able to make two three-pointers and shot just 37 percent from the field and 60 percent from the line.

UTM did finish the game with three players in double figures.

Junior Deina Willingham had 14; sophomore Andreika Jackson tacked on 11 and senior Jenny Lannom finished with 10.

Defensively, adding the most rebounds to the teams 34 total was senior Danille Paige with six.

Right behind her with five each were Jackson and Willingham.

Overall, the team finished the 2004-2005 season with a 9-19 overall record and an even 8-8 in the OVC.

Leading the team in points for the season was Jackson, finishing with 394 total. Second was Paige 274 and Lannom was behind her with 193 points on the year.

Jackson also led the team in rebounds with 170, and an average of 6.1 boards per game.

Paige led the team in assists and three pointers with 32 and 44 respectively. Lannom finished with the most blocked shots, 10, and the most fouls, 78.