JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Eastern Kentucky made a season-high 17 three-pointers and shot 53.7 percent from the field on its way to a 104-75 win over Jacksonville State Thursday in Jacksonville, Ala. Five Lady Colonels reached double figures led by Niki Avery with 26 points. EKU’s trio of senior guards, Avery, Crystal Jones and Ashley Cazee, combined for 64 points.
Eastern improves to 12-9 on the season and 7-7 in Ohio Valley Conference play. With the win, EKU snapped a four-game road losing streak. The Gamecocks drop to 10-15 overall and 7-9 against league teams.
The Lady Colonels finished the game 17-of-26 from beyond the three-point arc for 65.4 percent. JSU made just four of 20 attempts from deep.
Jones totaled 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. Cazee finished with 18 points, eight assists and six boards. Freshman Cherie White totaled 11 points off the bench. LaTonyah Bentley recorded 10 points.
Zenobia Pitts led Jacksonville State with 15 points. Jolie Efezokhae finished with a game-high 14 rebounds. JSU’s top two scorers finished with 12 points combined. Efezokhae entered the game averaging 12.7 points per contest. Cierra Duhart’s season average stood at 11.5 points per game before tonight. Both players finished with six points each.
Both teams started cold, but the Lady Colonels were the first to warm up. After making its first shot of the game to take a 2-0 lead, EKU missed its next five attempts and trailed 6-2 less than four minutes into the game.
Eastern Kentucky found its stroke and went on a 21-4 run as the Gamecocks continued to have trouble shooting the ball. JSU made just three of its first 15 shot attempts. Bentley scored 10 points during the run, including a pair of three-pointers.
Cazee’s three-pointer at the 13:41 mark put EKU up 11-6 and set a new school record for three-point attempts in a career. Cazee was tied with Angie Cox (1988-92) with 435 career attempts from beyond the three-point arc. The senior finished four of five from deep tonight to raise her career total to 440.
In addition to its poor start shooting the ball, Jacksonville State turned the ball over seven times in the first nine and a half minutes of the game. Bentley capped the run by turning that ninth turnover into a lay-up at the other end to give Eastern Kentucky a 23-10 lead with 9:35 showing on the clock.
Avery’s three-pointers at 5:33 and 3:07 extended the Lady Colonel advantage to 17 and 21 points respectively. Following Avery’s second trey, the Gamecocks ended the first half on a 10-3 run to close the gap to 14 points, 47-33, at halftime.
EKU made 17 of 35 first half shots from the field for 48.6 percent. The Lady Colonels were 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) from three-point range in the first stanza. Jacksonville State committed 11 first half turnovers and went 13-of-36 (36.1 percent) from the field. JSU made only 3 of 12 attempts from deep for 25 percent.
Eastern Kentucky put a stop to the Gamecocks’ first half run by scoring 12 of the first 16 points of the second half to move in front by 22 points, 59-37, with 16:50 left to play. Avery and Jones each had a three-pointer and a lay-up to account for 10 of the first 12 EKU points of the second half.
Jacksonville State never got closer than 19 points. Illona Muszak’s three-pointer with nine minutes left in the game extended the Eastern lead to 30 points, 85-55.
Ten of the 12 EKU players scored in the game.
Eastern Kentucky was out-rebounded 52-43. JSU grabbed 26 rebounds off the offensive glass but only turned those boards into 21 second chance points.
The Lady Colonels will finish off their road trip with a game at Samford on Saturday. Game time in Birmingham, Ala., is scheduled for 5 p.m.
