Box Score

RICHMOND, Ky. – A pair of scoring droughts doomed Eastern Kentucky and negated a late 22-7 run in a 67-56 loss to Tennessee State Saturday at McBrayer Arena. The Lady Colonels (6-14, 3-8 OVC) cut a 21-point second half deficit to six with a minute left in the game but the Lady Tigers (12-10, 8-3 OVC) made five of six free throw attempts to secure the victory.

EKU closed within two points midway through the first half before going almost four minutes without scoring and allowing Tennessee State to open up an 11-point lead. The Lady Colonels fought back to within six early in the second half before a scoring drought that lasted nearly six minutes allowed the Lady Tigers to build a 20-point advantage.

Eastern Kentucky freshman Kayla Drake scored a game-high 24 points, 22 of which came in the second half. She also grabbed six rebounds and made six steals. Junior Colette Cole finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Jasmine Smith recorded a double-double for TSU, finishing with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Kendra Appling posted a team-best 14 points and five assists.

Drake scored the first basket of the second half to draw the Lady Colonels to within six but Eastern suffered through its second extended scoring drought. EKU went nearly six minutes without scoring as Tennessee State scored 14 unanswered to build a 20-point lead. Charisse Hicks scored eight of the 14. Her three-pointer with 14:10 left to play put the Lady Tigers in front 42-22.

Tiffany Jackson’s jumper made it a 21-point game before Eastern Kentucky scored eight straight to close the gap to 13 with 10:10 remaining in the game. Drake’s three-pointer and old-fashioned three-point play accounted for six of the eight points. TSU put a stop to the EKU drive by scoring eight straight of its own.

The Lady Colonels attempted to get back into the game with a 13-1 run that began with 7:11 showing on the clock and cut the deficit to single digits. Drake scored six points during the run and Sarah Fraser-Jones added three. A free throw by Fraser-Jones made it a nine-point game, 56-47, with 2:41 to play.

Drake’s fourth three-pointer followed by a steal and a lay-up by Nadia Mossong off an inbounds pass closed the gap to six, 62-56, with 1:02 to go.

The Lady Tigers made five of six free throw attempts in the final minute to hold on for the victory.

TSU shot 44.8 percent in the second half and 40.7 percent for the game. After shooting below 30 percent in each of the past two games, Eastern rebounded from a 29.6 percent performance in the first half and made 39.4 percent of its second half shots. EKU shot 35 percent for the game.

After Cherie White connected on a three-pointer for Eastern with 11:18 to go in the first half to cut a five-point deficit to two, 12-10, the Lady Colonels went almost four minutes without scoring. The Lady Tigers rolled off nine unanswered to go on top 21-10. Cole’s trey from the left wing ended the scoring drought for EKU with 7:31 remaining before halftime.

TSU went back in front by nine on a jumper by Jackson with 6:05 on the clock and pushed the lead to double digits again, 25-14, on a jumper from the corner by Kierra Goodwin with five and a half minutes to go before intermission.

Eastern limited TSU to only one point in the final three minutes of the first half and went to the locker room down by eight, 28-20.

Cole nearly had a double-double at halftime, registering 12 points and eight rebounds. EKU held a 22-17 edge on the boards at the break but was out-rebounded 23-17 in the second half.

The Lady Colonels will play at Tennessee Tech on Thursday. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., ET.