MARTIN, Tenn. – Senior Ashley Cazee scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Eastern Kentucky to a 68-53 win over Tennessee-Martin Thursday night at the Elam Center. The Lady Colonels move to 8-8 in Ohio Valley Conference play and 13-10 overall. The Skyhawks drop to 5-23 on the season and 2-16 against league teams.

Eastern Kentucky shot 50 percent in the second half and 47.4 percent for the game. The EKU defense limited UTM to 26.2 percent shooting for the game.

Shavonne Jones finished with 10 points and five rebounds. All nine of the Lady Colonels that played scored at least one point.

Crystal Fuller led the Skyhawks with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Eight of her rebounds contributed to the 24 boards UTM grabbed off the offensive glass. However, Martin turned those offensive rebounds into only 11 points.

Tennessee-Martin missed 15 of its first 17 shots from the field but the Lady Colonels only built a seven-point advantage. After starting cold, the Skyhawks outscored Eastern 11-4 to get within two points. Jennifer Angler’s three-pointer at the 7:14 mark to make it a 19-17 game.

After connecting on seven of their first 12 shots from the field, the Lady Colonels went through a dry spell of their own. With a 15-6 lead, Eastern missed 10 of its next 12 shots. That allowed the Skyhawks to stretch their run to 16-5 and take a two point lead, 22-20, with 5:34 before intermission.

EKU got back on track and limited UTM to two points the rest of the half. Lindsey Water’s 17-footer from the top of the key as time expired sent the Lady Colonels to the locker room leading by seven, 31-24.

Tennessee-Martin shot 21.9 percent (7-of-32) from the field in the first half and committed 11 turnovers. Eastern Kentucky made 44.8 percent of its shots but went 0-for-7 from beyond the three-point arc.

Fuller scored the first six points of the second half to keep EKU from building a big lead. Her free throws at the 18:14 mark closed the gap to 31-30.

Then the three’s began to fall for the Lady Colonels. Avery and Cazee each knocked down two treys over the next six minutes to give Eastern a nine-point cushion, 47-38, with 12:13 left in the game.

Cazee’s lay-up at the 10:48 mark extended the lead to 10 points and the Lady Colonels maintained a double digit advantage the rest of the game. A lay-up by Waters with 6:04 remaining gave Eastern its largest lead of 18 points, 62-44.

The Lady Colonels finish off a streak of four straight road games on Saturday when they face conference leader Southeast Missouri State on Saturday in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The game is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. (ET).