Belmont's Maddie Wright, bottom, fights to keep control of the ball as UT-Martin's Brittni Moore tries to take it away from her during the first half of the Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball tournament final Saturday in Evansville, Ind.
UT-Martin's Chelsey Perry (20) takes control of the opening tipoff against Belmont's Maddie Wright as the Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball tournament title game gets underway Saturday in Evansville, Ind.EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Ellie Harmeyer scored 16 points and freshman Conley Chinn hit a clutch 3-pointer with 1:07 to play as the Belmont women's basketball team defeated the University of Tennessee at Martin 59-53 on Saturday for its fourth straight Ohio Valley Conference tournament title and NCAA tournament berth.
Harmeyer's basket to open the fourth quarter capped a 13-2 run that gave the top-seeded Bruins a 44-35 lead. Defense - and just enough offense - ensured Belmont (26-6) the program's sixth NCAA tournament appearance. Harmeyer scored nine points in the fourth, including a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to six with 4:08 to play.
Chinn's 3-pointer came late in the shot clock and made it 57-51.
"When we didn't have our best stuff on offense, we rebounded, we competed, we made it tough for other guys to score," second-year Belmont coach Bart Brooks said. "That wins the day when it comes to March."
Chinn finished with nine points and seven rebounds. Maddie Wright, a 6-foot-1 junior forward from Chattanooga and Boyd Buchanan School, also had nine points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Tournament MVP Jenny Roy had eight points, surpassing 1,000 for her career, and 11 rebounds for Belmont. Darby Maggard, the OVC player of the year, was limited to six points in the game after she surpassed 2,000 for her career.
Chelsey Perry had 16 points for the third-seeded Skyhawks (23-9), who beat Belmont 71-68 in overtime in the regular-season finale after losing 108-86 to the Bruins in January. Brittni Moore and Emanye Robertson each added 13 points for UT-Martin.