EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Tesia Thompson scored a career-high 39 points, Carrie Shephard poured in 29 and Taelour Pruitt added 21 to lead #3 Southeast Missouri (24-7) to a record-setting, 114-99, win over #2 Belmont (22-9) Friday in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinals.
With the win, SEMO advances to the OVC Tournament Championship game to face #1 UT Martin. Tip-off for that matchup is set for 2 p.m., CT, Saturday.
SEMO is in its 21st OVC Tournament appearance in program history. The Redhawks avenged an earlier loss from Belmont this season by taking control of the game from start to finish. SEMO will make its first OVC Tournament title appearance since 2006-07.
The Redhawks broke OVC Tournament single-game records in points scored and 3-point field goal percentage (82.4 percent). SEMO missed only two times from beyond the arc going a staggering 14-of-17. Combined, SEMO and Belmont scored 213 points, also an OVC Tournament record for total points in a game.
SEMO shot a season-best 65.2 percent from the field and scored their most points in a game against any opponent this year. The 114 points were the most scored on Belmont by any team in 2019-20.
SEMO also won the first three quarters of the game using a 35-point third quarter to blow by the Bruins.
In the Redhawks huge third quarter, they shot a scorching 76.5 percent making 13-of-17 field goals and a perfect 5-of-5 threes. Thompson had 13 points in that quarter alone.
The fireworks were far from over as Belmont closed SEMO's lead to 12 on multiple occasions in the fourth quarter, but the Redhawks never let up.
Instead, SEMO simply shot at a higher percentage going 12-of-15 from the floor for a stifling 80 percent clip in the final 10 minutes. The Redhawks did that damage even though Jamilyn Kinney scored 18 points and nailed six 3-pointers in the last period for Belmont.
Thompson shot 13-of-23 from the field, buried three 3-pointers and went 10-of-14 at the free throw line. She also grabbed five rebounds, dished out eight assists and had two steals in 35 minutes.
Shephard and Pruitt didn't miss a 3-pointer. Shephard shot 12-of-14 from the field and 4-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Pruitt, after knocking down SEMO's game-winning 3-pointer to beat Tennessee Tech at the buzzer and earning SportsCenter's top play on ESPN, turned around to nail all seven of her 3-point attempts. She finished at 7-of-9 from the floor for the game.
Jocelyn Taylor added double figures with 10 points, as well.
Ellie Harmeyer and Kinney topped Belmont with 25 and 20 points, respectively.
SEMO wrecked Belmont's streak of four-straight OVC Tournament titles.
