Box Score

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Kentucky’s women’s basketball team held Austin Peay to 23 points in the first half and led by five at the break, but the Lady Govs shot 51.9 percent and scored 45 points in the second half while beating the Lady Colonels 68-57 on Thursday night.

Freshman Shakeyia Colyer and junior Cherie White led EKU (9-11, 5-5 OVC) with 15 points each. White added eight rebounds and Colyer contributed seven.

Jasmine Rayner led APSU (8-13, 7-3 OVC) with 22 points and 15 rebounds. Whitney Hanley added 12 points.

Eastern Kentucky committed 24 turnovers and was out-rebounded 41-34.

White scored 11 first half points to help the Lady Colonels to a 28-23 lead at halftime. White’s turn-around jumper and free throw with 24.7 seconds left before the break capped a 9-1 EKU run to end the half. The Lady Govs scored just one point in the final five minutes of the opening half.

The two teams combined for 23 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play. Austin Peay went to the free throw line 12 times but made just five free throws.

APSU opened the second half with an 11-0 run to turn a five-point deficit into a six-point lead. A pair of free throws by Nicole Jamen with 16:20 left in the game capped the run and put the Lady Govs in front 34-28.

A basket by Brittany Coles closed the gap to two, 36-34, with 13:58 remaining in the game. However, Austin Peay used a 15-2 run to take control of the game for good. A three-pointer by Meghan Bussaburger capped the run and gave APSU a 51-36 lead with 6:41 left to play. The Lady Govs maintained a double digit lead until the Lady Colonels drew within nine in the final minute.

Austin Peay shot 46 percent for the game. The Lady Govs went to the free throw line 33 times but made just 19 for 57.6 percent. Eastern Kentucky was 2-for-5 from the charity stripe.

The two teams combined for 46 turnovers.

The Lady Colonels will end their two-game road trip on Saturday at Tennessee State. Tip-off in Nashville is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Notes
In the first meeting of the season between Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky, APSU’s Jasmine Rayner (9.0 ppg) and Whitney Hanley (8.1 ppg) entered the game averaging a combined 17 points per game, but were held to five points total. Those two entered tonight’s game averaging almost 18 points combined. They finished with 34 points combined tonight.

Eastern Kentucky entered the game ranked 28th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense (27.6 percent). Austin Peay shot 33.3 percent (3-for-9) from three-point range. EKU had held three straight opponents, and seven of its last nine foes, to 27 percent shooting or less from three-point range.

Eastern Kentucky entered the game 44th in the nation in field goal percentage defense (36.4 percent). Austin Peay shot 46.0 percent from the field.

Austin Peay entered the game ranked last in the OVC in field goal percentage defense (43.8 percent) and last in three-point field goal percentage defense (36.2 percent). The Lady Colonels shot 38.5 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from behind the arc.

Austin Peay has won seven straight conference home games dating back to last season.

The Eastern Kentucky bench was out-scored by its opponents’ bench for the first time in 12 straight games.

After winning five straight conference games to start the season, EKU has lost five straight against league foes.

EKU leads the all-time series 43-27. Eastern is now 17-15 all-time in Clarksville.