The Jacksonville State women’s basketball team will look to carry momentum from its win prior to the holiday break into a busy final week of the calendar year, beginning on Saturday in its Ohio Valley Conference opener at Tennessee Tech on Saturday in Cookeville, Tenn.
Tip off between the Gamecocks and Golden Eagles is set for 7 p.m. and will be available on the OVC Digital Network and can be heard on the Gamecock Sports Network.
Following JSU’s trip to Cookeville, it returns to action on Monday, Dec. 30, hosting two-time defending OVC Champion-UT Martin at 5:15 p.m. on the JSU campus. Jax State’s third game in five days will be Wednesday, Jan. 1 against in-state rival Samford at 3 p.m. in Birmingham, Ala.
The Gamecocks secured their third win of the season before the holiday break with a home court decision over South Carolina State on Dec. 19. TTU, the preseason favorite in the OVC East Division, enters the OVC lid lifter for both teams with a 3-9 overall mark after falling to Arkansas in its last activity.
JSU and Tech are meeting for the 21st time tonight and the tenth time in Cookeville, Tenn. Tech holds a commanding 17-3 lead in the series that dates back to February, 7, 2004. JSU and TTU have opened the OVC schedule against each other in four of the last five seasons. Jax State is 3-7 in OVC openers.
Junior Candace Morton extended her consecutive double figure-scoring streak to 12 games with an 11-point performance against SCSU. The Lexington, Ky.-guard leads all Gamecock scorers with a 17.9 scoring average. Morton is one of four players in the OVC to have scored ten points or more in every game this season – Katlyn Payne (Eastern Illinois), Keiona Kirby (Murray State) and Heather Butler (UT Martin) join Morton in that feat.
For Tech, junior Diamond Henderson is the lone Golden Eagles in double figures in the scoring column, averaging 17.6 points per game. Junior T’Keyah Williams averages right at double digits with10.1 points per game. Williams led all Golden Eagles with 12 points at Arkansas.
TTU enters the contest averaging 69.3 points per game and allowing 75.4 points per contest. Tech ranks among the OVC leaders in field goal percentage with a team mark of .421.