Box Score

RICHMOND, Ky. – It’s been 18 years since a top-10 women’s basketball team visited Eastern Kentucky’s McBrayer Arena.  It might be 18 more after the way the Lady Colonels battled No. 9 Louisville in front of the second largest crowd in program history.

Eastern led the Cardinals at halftime and trailed by only one with 13 minutes left to play, but UofL used 20-3 run to pull away and defeat EKU, 77-53, on Thursday night.

It was the first time the Lady Colonels hosted a top-10 team since 1993, when Pat Summitt’s No. 1 Tennessee Lady Vols came to town.  It was the first meeting between Eastern Kentucky and UofL in Richmond since 1990.

In a game that featured two of last year’s best high school players in the state, EKU’s Carla Booth got the best of reigning Kentucky Miss Basketball Sara Hammond.  Booth led the Lady Colonels with 14 points on 3-of-6 shooting from behind the arc and also added four rebounds, three assists and a steal.  Hammond finished the night with six points on 3-of-11 shooting and grabbed seven boards.

Junior Raechele Gray knocked down 2-of-4 three-pointers and scored nine points in the losing effort, while juniors Jade Barber and Alex Jones and sophomore Marie Carpenter all contributed eight points.

UofL’s Cierra Warren led all players in the game with 15 points, while Becky Burke and Shoni Schimmel chipped in with 12 points apiece.

EKU shot 37 percent (11-of-30) from the field and 40 percent (4-of-10) from deep in the first half, and the Lady Colonels’ defense stymied the Cardinals to 32 percent shooting (10-of-31) from the floor and 11 percent (1-of-9) shooting from deep.  It was a different story in the second half, however, as UofL rebounded to shoot 43 percent (17-of-40) from the field and 40 percent (4-of-10) from behind the arc to slowly pull away from an upset-minded EKU team.

EKU ran out to a 4-0 lead on a tip-in by Barber and a layup by senior Jasmine Stovall, before a jumper by Hammond gave UofL its first lead of the game, 9-8, at the first media timeout.  The Lady Colonels exploded out of that timeout as Carpenter and Booth combined to sink three straight three-pointers, the last of which gave EKU a 21-15 advantage with 11:32 remaining in the half.  Another trifecta from the top of the key by Gray just over a minute later gave the Lady Colonels their largest lead of the game, 24-17.

UofL chipped away at the lead and tied the game, 30-30, on a pair of free throws by Asia Taylor with 1:21 on the clock; however, an offensive rebound by Jones on the opposite end of the floor led to Booth getting fouled and converting one free throw to send the Lady Colonels into the locker room at halftime up 31-30.

UofL grabbed the lead less than five minutes into the second half when Warren converted a three-point play to make it 40-39.  Sparked by a pair of three-pointers by Burke, the Cardinals then went on a 20-3 run to take a double-digit advantage and effectively put the game out of reach.

Attendance for the game was 2,800 – making it the second-largest crowd ever to see a Lady Colonels game in McBrayer Arena.

EKU will take to the road for a game on Sunday at Western Michigan University.  Tip-off in Kalamazoo is scheduled for 2 p.m.