By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — One quarter, two field goals.

It was an equation that explained the end of Western Illinois’ women’s basketball season.

The Leathernecks’ offense, which had them in the lead at halftime of Wednesday’s Ohio Valley Conference Tournament first-round game, couldn’t get shots to fall in the third quarter of the 78-69 loss to Tennessee Tech.

Western Illinois (18-12), the seventh seed in the tournament, made just 2-of-16 field goals in the quarter as sixth-seeded Tennessee Tech (16-14) turned a 40-36 deficit nine seconds into a quarter into a 50-40 lead in almost four minutes.

“That third quarter was a killer,” Western Illinois coach JD Gravina said. “Man, 2-of-16. Of course, as a coach, you look at about a million different things, but the truth of the matter is, what it comes down to is they made a lot of plays, and we didn’t when we had the opportunities, especially in the third quarter.”

“I think it was definitely frustrating,” said Western Illinois guard Raegan McCowan, who had the only two field goals of the quarter in a span of 58 seconds after Tennessee Tech’s big run. “It definitely hurts when you’re getting good looks. I think if those shots are forced or contested, it’s a little more like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s bad on our end.’ But when they’re good looks, I think, it’s just more upsetting.”

“They were all good shots that we normally make,” guard Anna Deets said. “So that was kind of the big part. And then of course, they come down and they’re literally hitting everything.”

Tennessee Tech coach Kim Rosamond said it was a change in defense that made the difference.

“We’re a pressing basketball team,” Rosamond said. “ I thought they handled it for the most part very well today and we had given up some easy baskets, some (3-pointers), out of our press and weren’t getting matched up extremely well. So we just decided at halftime, we were going to get in the half-court (defense) and we were just going to sit down and defend. And I thought we did that.”

Tennessee Tech, which advances to play UT-Martin in Thursday’s quarterfinals, led 61-48 early in the third quarter before Western Illinois tried to rally. The Leathernecks got within 68-60 with 5:06 to play on Deets’ 3-pointer, but could not get closer.

The Golden Eagles hit 11 3-pointers, including five in the first quarter to set an early tone.

“At their place (a 77-66 loss for the Leathernecks on February 15), we were kind of feeling like they were pretty guard-oriented and they beat us in the post,” Gravina said. “We did a really good job with their posts today, and they beat us from the perimeter mostly.”

McCowan concluded a brilliant season in which she was named the OVC’s freshman of the year with a 27-point, 10-rebound game despite dealing with foul trouble, especially in the second half.

McCowan got her last points with 6:46 left in the game but said the foul trouble didn’t frustrate her.

“More recently, I’ve been used to playing with some foul trouble, and I think even the last game against Tennessee Tech, I knew they were going to try to get me in foul trouble,” she said. “That’s what I tried to do last game their place. So I don’t think it really changed my game as much.”

“McCowan is special, there’s no other way to put it,” Rosamond said.

Maaliya Owens led Tennessee Tech with 23 points. Reghan Grimes had 17.

Addi Brownfield had 12 points for Western Illinois, and Mallory McDermott added 10.

Western Illinois finished with its best record since the 2017-18 team won 22 games.

“It’s been a long time since a team has been (above) .500,” Deets said. “We had a lot of great games and a lot of great runs.”

“I got to play with some of the best people around, which is something I really appreciated coming into the season,” McCowan said. “This has got to be one of the best, the most fun basketball season that I played, in a really long time.”

“I feel like we were really close to having a kind of a special season and it didn’t happen for us,” Gravina said. “We didn’t quite get there. But I hope that in the next couple of years when we do get there, when we win 20 games and when we’re in the top two or three in the league, I hope that this group looks back —  and especially the seniors that are leaving can look back — and know they kind of at least got started in that right direction to where we’re competitive with the top of the league.”

Photo: Western Illinois’ Raegan McCowan is surrounded as she tries to shoot in the second half. (Photo from Cory Eads Photography for the Ohio Valley Conference)