WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM RALLIES TO CRUSH AUSTIN PEAY

January 7, 2013

Boxscore

MARTIN – The University of Tennessee at Martin rallied from an early first-half deficit to crush Austin Peay 84-57 in the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center Monday afternoon.

“There was life in us that I haven’t seen this year,” UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said. “If we continue to play with the effort we did tonight, win or lose, I can’t complain.”

Junior Heather Butler led all scorers with 32 points and is now UT Martin’s second all-time leading scorer with 1732 points. Jasmine Newsome poured in 22 points, while Sydney Vanlandingham and Rickiesha Bryant scored 10 points each.

“You saw a look you haven’t seen from us this year,” McMillan said. “You saw pep in the step, chirping at teammates and potential. Our ultimate goal is to play a solid 40 minutes of basketball by March.”

The Skyhawks opened the second half with a 15-2 run and built a 53-30 lead with 15:12 to play in the game.

However, Austin Peay claimed an early advantage in the game and led 26-17 with 7:48 to play in the first half. Nicole Olszewski led the Lady Govs with 20 points and nine rebounds.

UT Martin answered with a 21-2 run to close out the first half. Newsome chipped in 16 first-half points, while Butler tossed in 13. Both players each drained a pair of 3-pointers.

McMillan said his team’s 1-3-1 defense made the biggest difference in the game. “It led to five, six, seven, and eight consecutive stops.”

With the victory the Skyhawks improved to 7-10 overall and 2-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. The Skyhawks will return to action Saturday, Jan. 12, when they play at Belmont. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Curb Events Center.

Notes:     

• Junior Heather Butler extended her games with at least one 3-pointer to 62. Butler is closing in on the NCAA Division I record for most games (69) with a 3-pointer made. She also extended her streak of double-digit scoring games to 80.


• Junior Jasmine Newsome is 24-of-27 at the free throw line in her last six games.


• UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan’s grandfather Click Jordan and great uncle, Jud, were best friends with legendary Alabama football coach Paul Bear Bryant. All three grew up together in Fordyce, Ark. Click Jordan played quarterback, Jud Jordan was the running back and Paul Bryant was the tackle. One afternoon, the three were together, when Bryant opted to earn a little extra money. McMillan said his grandfather, Click, told Bryant that he was going home if Bryant was about to do something stupid like wrestle a bear. Thus Bryant picked up the nickname Bear. The two Jordan brothers went on to play at Arkansas, and Bryant went to Alabama. Tonight’s basketball game was moved up to 5:30 p.m. so fans could watch the national championship football game between Alabama and Notre Dame.


• Five players from the state of Ohio were in uniform: UT Martin’s Katie Schubert, Ashley Bassett-Smith and Megan White; while Austin Peay represented the Buckeye State with sisters Nicole and Shelby Olszewski. For the Austin Peay sisters, the Tennessee connection is their father, Jeff, who was the quarterback at Tennessee from 1978-81. Jeff Olszewski completed 81-of-152 passes for 1,005 yards.