UTM women give McMillan milestone victory

By KEVIN WEAKS

Sports Editor

Two extra periods turned out to be all UT Martin needed to pull off the upset.

UTM outscored Western Illinois 12-4 in the second overtime to hand the Leathernecks just their second loss of the season, winning the New Year’s Day OVC showdown 86-78 at the Elam Center.

The win marked the 300th career victory for Skyhawk head coach Kevin McMillan.

Sidni Middleton led four Skyhawks, now 6-6 overall and 2-1 in the league, in double figures with 25 points to tie her career high and was one rebound shy of a double-double.

Kenley McCarn finished with 20 points, while both Zy Thompson and Norah Clark added 12 points. Thompson produced a double-double with 11 rebounds.

Mia Nicastro, the OVC’s leading scorer and rebounder, tied for top scoring honors with 25 points and led all players with 13 rebounds, while Addi Brownfield also had a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds for WIU (10-2, 2-1). Madison Davis was the third double-double player for the Leathernecks with 10 points and 11 boards.

The final lead for WIU came at 3:45 of the second OT when Kaylen Reed hit her only field goal of the game — a 3-pointer — for a 77-76 advantage.

The last of 18 lead changes in the game came 21 seconds later when Clark hit a turnaround jumper in the lane to put the Skyhawks back in front 78-77.

Middleton then scored twice to make it 82-77, and then UTM followed a Western free throw with another basket by Middleton and a transition bucket from McCarn with 14 seconds remaining.

Middleton, who is averaging 23.3 points in the team’s three OVC games, hit some big baskets late in regulation and the first extra period.

Two free throws by Middleton with 52 seconds remaining in regulation put the Skyhawks ahead 66-61, but Brownfield brought WIU back with two free throws at 0:43 and a 3-pointer with 29 seconds to play.

Middleton’s pull-up jumper in the lane with 32 seconds remaining in the first overtime tied the game at 74-all, forcing the second extra session.

UTM led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter, but WIU outscored the Skyhawks 17-4 to take a 33-30 halftime advantage.