Box Score

RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky's women’s basketball team shot 46.7 percent from the field, made 19-of-25 attempts from the free throw line and improved to 3-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 64-56 win over Tennessee State on Saturday at McBrayer Arena. The Lady Tigers went just 12-for-26 (46.2 percent) from the charity stripe.

One game after giving up a 12-point second half lead in a loss to Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky refused to fold against Tennessee State. The Lady Colonels (6-6, 3-0 OVC) took a six-point lead midway through the second half before the Lady Tigers (4-8, 1-2 OVC) tied it twice. TSU then cut a five-point deficit to one with two minutes to go but Eastern held Tennessee State to just two points and went 7-for-8 from the free throw line the rest of the way.

In a battle of two of the premier post players in the conference, freshman Alex Jones led the Lady Colonels with 14 points and nine rebounds. She also had four steals, two blocks and an assist. Senior Oby Okafor scored a team-best 16 points, added six rebounds and one steal for Tennessee State, but went just 4-for-12 from the free throw line.

Junior Talisha Davis scored 12 points and dished out four assists for the Lady Colonels. Freshman Michaelea Kleist added 10 points and seven rebounds.

LaDona Pierce and Jasmine Smith finished with nine and eight rebounds respectively for TSU. The Lady Tigers grabbed 17 boards off the offensive glass and out-rebounded Eastern 40-34.

Neither team built much of a lead in the first half until EKU scored eight unanswered to turn a two-point deficit into a six-point lead. Jones and Brittany Coles each contributed an old-fashioned three-point play during the run. Coles basket and free throw put the Lady Colonels in front 21-15 and forced TSU to call a time out with 9:29 left before intermission.

After taking a 23-17 lead, Eastern turned the ball over on four straight possessions. Three straight baskets by Okafor allowed the Lady Tigers to draw within two, 23-21, before Sarah Fraser-Jones knocked down a pair of three-pointers from the left corner on back-to-back possessions for a 29-24 EKU lead with 3:25 remaining in the first half.

A lay-up by TSU’s Pierce as the horn sounded sent the visitors to the locker room down by only one, 33-32.

Both teams shot over 50 percent in the first half. Jones and Okafor each led their teams with 10 points each at the break.

Tennessee State scored six of the first eight points of the second half to take a four-point lead. A free throw followed by a jumper by Meredith Stafford put the Lady Tigers on top 38-34 with 17:33 left in the game.

Nine straight by EKU, including a pair of lay-ups by Kleist, allowed the Lady Colonels to go from down by three to in front by six. A basket and a free throw by Coles stretched the lead to six, 46-40, with 11:12 remaining to play.

The Lady Tigers battled back to tie the score twice. Pierce tied it at 49-49 with a pair of free throws before a jumper by Cherie White and a three-pointer by Davis pushed Eastern Kentucky back in front by five, 54-49, with 5:24 showing on the clock.

TSU made one more run. A free throw by Nikki Rumph cut the EKU lead to one, 55-54, with 2:09 left to play. The two teams then exchanged missed three-point attempts before Jones connected on a lay-up with 1:18 to go to push Eastern Kentucky in front by three, 57-54. Pierce missed a jumper at the other end and the Lady Colonels made 7-of-8 free throw attempts in the final minute to secure the victory.

After allowing the Lady Tigers to shoot 50 percent in the first half, Eastern held the visitors to 21.4 percent shooting from the field in the second half.

The Lady Colonels are on a streak of four games in eight days. They will host Austin Peay, the defending OVC tournament champions, on Monday at 5:30 p.m.

Notes
Eastern Kentucky improved to 3-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play for the first time since the 2005-06 season. The program has not won four straight conference games to start the season since going 6-0 to start the 2002-03 conference slate.

The Lady Colonels have held six of their last seven opponents to 60 points or less.

EKU snapped a four-game losing streak to Tennessee State.

Eastern Kentucky was out-rebounded for just the fourth time in 12 games this season.

Tennessee State is 0-4 on the road this season.

TSU dropped to 4-2 this season when out-rebounding its opponent.

Tennessee State is 0-8 this season when its opponent shoots better than 40 percent from the field.

EKU leads the all-time series between the two teams 31-13.

EKU junior Talisha Davis scored 859 points in two seasons at Lincoln Trail College. She needs 30 more points to reach 1,000 for her collegiate career.