RICHMOND, Ky. – On senior night, Eastern Kentucky senior Ashley Cazee’s shot to tie the game and force overtime rolled off the rim and Tennessee State escaped McBrayer Arena Saturday with a 68-66 victory. The Lady Tigers (13-16, 10-10 OVC) took the lead on Tiffany Jackson’s jumper with five seconds left in the game. The Lady Colonels (14-13, 9-11 OVC), playing their regular season and home finale, executed the give and go to perfection but couldn’t get the tying shot to fall.
EKU will learn its Ohio Valley Conference tournament first round opponent later tonight at the conclusion of today’s league schedule. The Lady Colonels could finish anywhere from sixth to eighth in the conference standings. With the win, Tennessee State has locked up the fifth seed.
The top four seeds host first round action on Tuesday.
LaTanya Stokes led Eastern Kentucky with 16 points and 10 rebounds, her first career double-double. Cazee finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Senior Crystal Jones totaled 11 points.
Oby Okafor led the Lady Tigers with a game-high 19 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Jackson scored TSU’s final eight points and finished with 18 to go along with seven rebounds. Kendra Appling bucketed 16 points.
Tennessee State jumped out in front 7-2 but the Lady Colonels rebounded to tie the score at 7-7 on a lay-up by Cherie White. An old-fashioned three-point play by Cazee put Eastern in front 12-11. Cazee connected on a lay-up, drew the foul and converted the free throw.
The Lady Tigers scored their next eight points at the free throw line, including six by Okafor, to move back on top 19-13. However, Cazee drained a 26-foot three-pointer as the shot clock expired to key a 7-0 run by the Lady Colonels. LaTanya Bentley picked off a pass at the top of the key and raced down court to cap the run with a lay-up and put EKU in front 20-19.
Tennessee State answered the Eastern Kentucky run with a run of its own. The Lady Tigers rolled off 12 unanswered, six of which were scored by Appling, to take a double-digit lead, 31-20, with 4:33 left in the first half. Bentley stopped the run with a three-pointer for the Lady Colonels.
A pair of three-pointers by Ilona Muszak and two free throws from LaTanya Stokes got EKU back within two points, 33-31, with 1:57 remaining before the halftime break.
Muszak had not played in five straight games but had little trouble finding her stroke early.
Tennessee State scored six of the final seven points of the first half and took a 39-32 lead into the locker room.
Okafor had 16 points and nine rebounds at the break. TSU out-rebounded the Lady Colonels by 11, 25-14, in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Lady Tigers opened up a nine-point lead with the first basket of the second half. Eastern Kentucky kept the deficit within single digits by making five of six shots from the field in the first five minutes of the second half.
After Charisse Hicks connected on a three-pointer with 18:21 showing on the clock to give TSU another nine-point cushion the Lady Colonels went on an 11-1 run to take the lead. Lindsey Waters scored four points during the run and Stokes capped it off with a three-pointer that gave EKU a 48-47 lead with 12:55 left to play.
Eastern Kentucky went ahead by five on a free throw from Shavonne Jones with 9:42 remaining. However, Tennessee State stayed in the game, grabbing a one-point lead twice over the next three minutes.
A jumper by Stokes at the 2:27 mark gave EKU a four-point advantage, 64-60. Cazee’s lay-up kept the lead at four, 66-62, with 1:48 to go.
Jackson cut it to two with a lay-up at the other end and then tied it at 66-66 with 48 seconds left to play. Her jumper with five ticks remaining proved to be the game winner.
TSU shot 41 percent (25-of-61) for the game. EKU made 34.9 percent (22-of-63) of its shots.
