Skyhawks’ late push does in SEMO

Posted: Friday, January 18, 2013 12:00 pm

CAPE GIRARDEAU — On the night when one junior guard became UT Martin’s all-time leading scorer, another junior guard scored a season-high 36 points to lead the visiting Skyhawks to an 82-71 victory over Southeast Missouri State.
Heather Butler tossed in 23 points and is now UTM’s all-time leading scorer with 1,772 points.
But, it was Jasmine Newsome’s game-high 36 points that helped the most as the Skyhawks improved to 8-11 overall and 3-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
“This is definitely moving in the right direction,” UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said. “While it was a move in the right direction, it was clunky. Hopefully we will make it smooth.”
Senior Rickiesha Bryant came to life in the second half. She scored 14 points, a dozen in the half, and then grabbed eight boards. She finished the game with a career-high 14 rebounds.
The UTM offense scored 55 points in the second half. Both Newsome and Butler scored 12 points in the first half to account for 24 of the Skyhawks’ 27 first-half points.
“I thought the offensive effort in the second half was really good,” McMillan said.
Newsome said she doesn’t keep up with her stats or the team’s numbers, but she thought the team did a better job in the second half.
“We did pretty good,” she said. “We had freshmen out there with targets on their backs. They are not used to that pressure.”
The Skyhawks sealed the victory in the final three minutes of the game by going 9-for-9 at the free throw line. Freshman Sydney VanLandingham made four of the nine shots.
The Skyhawks made 22-of-27 free throws in the game.
In the first half Southeast Missouri State claimed a 13-4 lead early, but UT Martin used a 16-7 run to knot the game at 20-all with 4:31 to play in the half.
In the second half, Southeast Missouri opened with a quick run, but Newsome gave the Skyhawks a 38-36 lead with 17:12 to play in the game. The game was tied at 44, 46, and 68.
Southeast Missouri State was led by Brittany Harriel, Allyson Bradshaw and Olivia Hackman with 13 points each. Kara Wright and Ballie Roberts added 10 points each. Published in The WCP 1.17.13