Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
27-9,13-5Sun Belt
Arkansas State
27-10,14-4Sun Belt
Marshall Women’s Basketball Knocks Off Arkansas State, 69-62, In WNIT Semis
4/1/2026 10:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Herd advances to WNIT Championship, will host Illinois State at 3 p.m. on Saturday
Box Score | Coach Fulks Post-Game Press Conference |WNIT Championship Tickets
JONESBORO, Ark. – Timaya Lewis Eutsey scored 31 points and Marshall Women's Basketball led from start to finish in a 69-62 victory in the WNIT semifinals at First National Bank Arena on Wednesday night.
With the win, Marshall sets a single-season record for wins with 27 and advances to host Saturday's 3 p.m. WNIT championship against Illinois State.
Tickets for Saturday's 3 p.m. WNIT Championship Game are on sale HERE.
"Obviously, I'm really proud of our team's effort," Marshall head coach Juli Fulks said. "Similar to this entire postseason, we had an absolutely great practice yesterday. We asked them to go hard for 70 minutes to work on the press break stuff and make sure we understood exactly how we were doing it. We handled that really well today."
In a physical battle of two Sun Belt Conference rivals, Lewis-Eutsey finished 10 of 18 from the floor and knocked down 7 of 8 free throws for her 7th 30-point game of the season. She is one of only eight players in NCAA women's basketball with seven 30-point games this season.
"We were familiar with Arkansas State and we knew that they were going to be scrappy," Lewis-Eutsey said. "We knew they'd try to speed us up, so we had to throw the first punch and keep our composure."
Marshall (27-9) never trailed in the contest, but Arkansas State cut the lead to 55-54 in the fourth quarter before a 3-pointer by Meredith Maier started a 9-0 run that pushed the lead back to double-figures to clinch the win.
The Herd got nine points from Ni'Kiah Chesterfield and Peyton Ilderton while Blessing King grabbed 10 rebounds in a full team effort.
"As a group, the players were awesome," Fulks said. "Now, we get to come home!"
The Herd defense forced 21 turnovers in the contest and turned those into 23 points while limiting Arkansas State to just 25 percent from 3-point range to earn the win.
Marshall led 32-25 at halftime after two quarters on the strength of its defense, which got the Herd off to a strong start and propelled the team to an early lead.
The Herd defense picked up right where it left off against Army, keeping Arkansas State scoreless for the first 4:44 of the game while forcing the Red Wolves into five turnovers in the early going.
The total scoreless streak for the Herd opponents was 15:49 of game-time between the Army win and Wednesday's contest vs. Arkansas State.
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