Kylee Smith scored 30 points on 12-of-16 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds and No. 23 Belmont ended the regular season with its 37th straight Ohio Valley Conference win, 84-42 over Tennessee State on Saturday.
Asia Durr, Jazmine Jones and Sam Fuehring each scored 12 points to lead a balanced offense for No. 3 Louisville, which scored the game's first 12 points to jump-start a 95-56 blowout of Tennessee State on Tuesday night.
Jessica Kern will be the 11th head coach in Tennessee State women's basketball history.
Tennessee State women's basketball coach Larry Joe Inman said Thursday he is resigning for personal reasons.
Jaime Nared had 16 points and 10 rebounds despite sitting out the entire fourth quarter as No. 22 Tennessee snapped a two-game skid with an 86-36 blowout of Tennessee State.
Evelyn Akhator had 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead No. 7 Kentucky to an 81-39 victory over Tennessee State on Monday night.
Victoria Vivians had 22 points and seven rebounds and No. 9 Mississippi State beat Tennessee State 82-54 on Sunday.
Coach Cal's squad isn't the only Kentucky team making noise in the Big Dance. The 2-seed Wildcats cruised to a 45-point win in the women's tournament, improving to 24-9 on the year.
Linnae Harper scored 16 points to lead No. 2 seed Kentucky to a 97-52 win over Tennessee State on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Brianna Lawrence scored five of her 22 points in overtime, and the Tennessee State Lady Tigers beat top-seeded UT Martin 64-60 Saturday for their first Ohio Valley Conference tournament title and automatic NCAA Tournament berth since 1995.
No. 12 Kentucky holds off Tennessee State 87-75
Moore, No. 4 Lady Vols beat Tennessee State 97-46
Bashaara Graves scored 17 points to lead five Lady Vols in double figures, and No. 3 Tennessee trounced Tennessee State 94-43 to continue its fastest start since its 2007-08 national championship season.
Monique Reid scored 20 points and Sara Hammond and Sheronne Vails each had double-doubles as No. 11 Louisville earned a third consecutive blowout victory by beating Tennessee State 88-25 Monday night.
| TEAM | CONF | GB | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belmont University | 18-0 | - | 31-4 |
| Tenn-Martin | 13-5 | 5 | 19-15 |
| SIU-Edwardsville | 13-5 | 5 | 17-15 |
| Morehead State | -- | -- | 21-11 |
| Jacksonville State | -- | -- | 19-12 |
| Austin Peay | -- | -- | 16-14 |
| Southeast Missouri State | -- | -- | 14-17 |
| Murray State | -- | -- | 11-19 |
| Eastern Kentucky | -- | -- | 8-19 |
| Tennessee Tech | -- | -- | 7-22 |
| Tennessee State | -- | -- | 6-21 |
| Eastern Illinois | -- | -- | 3-26 |
