Exhibition or not, the Tennessee Tech women’s basketball team hung up 93 points in its first action at home against Truett-McConnell.
“An exhibition game is a learning experience, whether you win it or lose it,” said head coach Jim Davis. “You come into it knowing it doesn’t count on your record so you’re trying to get some experience and learn some lessons that’ll help you down the road.”
The Golden Eagles certainly learned that they could score on Nov. 5.
Head coach Jim Davis talked about facing an opponent from somewhere else, finally saying that they were tired of “beating up on each other.”
The Golden Eagles were a bit cold from the field to start the game, even trailing the Lady Bears at a point early in the first half. However, Tech would warm up behind guard Diamond Henderson’s 11 first half points and take a 40-26 lead into the break.
Every player in a Tech uniform saw double-digit minutes in the exhibition. Sophomore Maria Dean led the way with 14 points. Meanwhile Henderson, preseason All-OVC, would finish with 13. Freshman Catherine Taylor had the third highest total with 12. The Golden Eagles also score 42 of it’s 93 points in the paint.
Dean came off the bench and went 4-6 from the field and 100 percent from the free throw line.
“She came in and shot the ball well,” said Davis.
Taylor also came off the bench and put up 12 in her first action in the Hoop.
Dean and graduate student Kayla Brewer, also coming off the bench, would tie for rebounds on the night, each with 8.
“We don’t lose a whole lot when we go to our bench,” said Davis during a post game interview. “We’re going to be able to play a lot of people.”
In fact, Tech scored 57 bench points on the night.
“It’s a good problem to have,” said Davis. “Everybody works hard in practice and everybody deserves a chance.”
Davis also said that the game plan was more focused on feeding the ball down low to make outside shots easier.
“That was the game plan to start with and we weren’t as disciplined as we needed to be and started jacking them up,” said Davis. “Once we got in down there, it was a whole lot easier to those shots on the kick out.”
The Golden Eagles did struggle keeping Truett-McConnell off the free throw stripe. The Lady Bears capitalized on this and earned 33 of their 54 from the charity stripe.
Coach Davis cited the new hand checking foul call as the cause for some many free throws.
The women’s team opens its regular season at home Nov. 9 against Tennessee Wesleyan at 7 p.m.
