COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – SIUE women's basketball trailed by as many as 23 in the fourth quarter and cut its deficit to single digits, but Tennessee Tech held on to down the Cougars, 86-76, on Thursday night at Hooper Eblen Center.

SIUE falls to 5-23 overall and 2-13 against Ohio Valley Conference opponents. Tennessee Tech improves to 14-12 and 9-6.

"It was a heck of a fight from our group," Head Coach Samantha Quigley Smith said. "We didn't have a great first quarter, but I thought we recovered from that pretty well. We needed to put together a strong complete game."

The Cougars led by four points with 7:08 to go in the opening half of play before the Golden Eagles grabbed a two-point advantage at 11-9 and led the rest of the way.

"I think there were some moments where we had some unforced turnovers," added Smith. "That really hurt us."

Entering halftime, Tennessee Tech extended its lead to 14 points at 43-29, going 16-32 from the field (50 percent). The Cougars were held to 38 percent (9-24) in the opening half of play while going 2-10 from three-point range.

After the break, SIUE cut its deficit to single digits on a 10-5 run with 6:45 to play in the third before the Golden Eagles concluded the quarter on a 9-3 run to go up 16.

Despite trailing by 23 with 8:04 to play in the contest, SIUE's offense heated up in the final quarter of action. The Cougars outscored the Golden Eagles 27-21 while going 53 percent (9-17) from the field. The Cougars capitalized on open three-pointers, shooting 7-10 from deep in the final period of play.

SIUE concluded the contest 46 percent (26-57) from the field and 50 percent (12-24) from long range, its seventh game this season with double digit three-pointers. The Cougars' 12 three-pointers marked their most since they tallied 13 at Southeast Missouri on Jan. 20.

Tennessee Tech shot 53 percent (30-57) overall and 45 percent (9-20) from long range. The Golden Eagles also edged SIUE on the glass, 34-26.

Four Cougars finished the contest in double-figures, led by 20 points from Halle Smith and Sofie Lowis. Smith shot 7-16 overall and was a perfect 6-6 at the charity stripe. She also led SIUE with seven rebounds. Lowis went 6-14 overall and 5-11 from three-point land. She also pitched in five assists.

"We had good balance in scoring," said Smith. "Halle was phenomenal tonight. We have been waiting for that for a while. We know what she's capable of and hope she can finish the season strong for us."

Molly Sheehan and Ava Gugliuzza turned in 10 points apiece. Sheehan also led the Cougars with six of SIUE's 22 assists.

SIUE continues its road swing at Tennessee State on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1:00 p.m.

Stay connected with the Cougars all season long by following @SIUEWBB on X, @SIUEWBB on Instagram, and SIUE Women's Basketball on Facebook.