Feature Photo: Junior guard Brittani Wells (#2) drives the ball against Tennessee State University at the Tom and Kathleen Elam Center in Martin, Tenn. on Feb. 28, 2026. (Pacer Photo / Miranda Conrad)

The UT Martin women’s Skyhawk basketball falls once again this time to the Tennessee State University Lady Tigers.

The Skyhawks would dominate in the first quarter, shooting over 50%, and outscoring the Lady Tigers 19-10

In the Second, the Skyhawks continued playing well going 5-of-11 from the field and shooting 100% from three and from the free-throw line. Although they were outscored 19-15 after the Lady Tigers were able to put up 23 shots making the score at half 34-29 in favor of the Skyhawks.

In the third is when the struggles began for the Skyhawks. The Lady Tigers went on a 21-0 run shooting 50% from the field on 7-of-14 and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. The Skyhawks would shoot just 27.3% from the field going 3-of-11 and ending the quarter on 8-0 run.

To begin the fourth, the Skyhawks would come out firing and eventually cut down a 10 point lead to just two, but the Skyhawks could not capitalize despite outscoring the Lady Tigers 18-17 in the quarter. The final score was 67-60.

One positive for the Skyhawks was their effort on the boards. Usually, the Skyhawks are out rebounded by opponents, but this time they were the team that grabbed more rebounds. Even though they controlled the glass and gave themselves extra chances to score, they still could not turn that advantage into a win because of scoring droughts at key moments in the game.

The Leading scorer for the Skyhawks was redshirt junior guard Kenley McCarn with 19 points and adding eight rebounds. Behind McCarn was junior guard Brittani Wells with 12 points, unfortunately for Wells she also added 10 turnovers. Another key player was freshman forward Cam Ward with 11 points in just 19 minutes.

Despite the loss the Skyhawks find themselves in the sixth seed for the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) tournament. 

Next up for the Skyhawks is the seventh seed SIUE Cougars on Wednesday Mar. 4, 2026 in Evansville, Indiana at the Ford Center. The last contest between the two went in favor of the Cougars as they cruised to a 62-52 victory. This was just the third time in the last 10 matchups that the Cougars gained over the Skyhawks.

The Leading scorer for the Skyhawks is McCarn averaging 16.0 points per game (PPG) and adding 5.3 rebounds per game (RPG). Following McCarn is redshirt sophomore forward Zy Thompson averaging 10.9 PPG and she leads in Rebounds with 6.0 RPG.

Listed below is the OVC Rankings for the upcoming tournament-

• #1 Western Illinois Leathernecks
• #2 Lindenwood Lions
• #3 Southern Indiana Screaming eagles
• #4 Morehead State Eagles
• #5 Little Rock Trojans
• #6 UT Martin Skyhawks
• #7 SIUE Cougars
• #8 SEMO Redhawks