The Tennessee Tech women’s basketball team stretched its win streak to 16 games by beating Southern Indiana 88-78 Friday in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
The win sent the No. 1 seed Golden Eagles (25-5) into the championship where they will face the winner of No. 2 Lindenwood-No. 7 Western Illinois Saturday (3:30 p.m. CT, ESPN+). The winner will earn the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
The Golden Eagles’ last loss came on Jan. 9 against Eastern Illinois (71-40).
Tennessee Tech has made the NCAA Tournament once since 2000 and that was two years ago when the Golden Eagles lost in the first round to Indiana.
No. 5 Southern Indiana (22-12) advanced to the semifinals by defeating Tennessee State 90-66 and Little Rock 73-52.
The Screaming Eagles stayed close with Tech for much of the game and took a 70-69 lead with 4:45 remaining.
The Tech defense, however, shut down Southern Indiana for most of the rest of the way holding the Screaming Eagles to just two field goals for the remainder of the game.
The Golden Eagles meanwhile, secured the win by making their last 12 free throw attempts. They were 28-of-30 on free throws for the game.
Tech swept Southern Indiana in the regular season winning 83-79 in Cookeville and 81-62 in Evansville.
Taris Thornton, an Eastern Illinois transfer, came off the bench to lead Tech with 20 points. She was 8-of-9 from the field and 2-of-2 on 3-pointers. Keeley Carter, a Trevecca transfer from Lafayette, had 16 points and Chloe Larry had 15. Larry was 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
Meredith Raley led Southern Indiana with 29 points and nine rebounds before fouling out. Ali Saunders was the Screaming Eagles only other double-figure scorer with 12 points.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Tech women’s basketball one win from NCAA Tournament
