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2012 OVC Tournament Web Site
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Box Score

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Alex Jones and Jade Barber each contributed double-doubles in Eastern Kentucky’s 70-55 win over Tennessee State in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament on Wednesday.

The Lady Colonels (13-15) will face No. 3 seed Tennessee Tech (15-15, 11-5 OVC) in the OVC tournament quarterfinals at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday.  The Golden Eagles defeated Eastern twice during the regular season.

Jones finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds.  She scored her 1,000th career point on a lay-up and free throw at the 10:30 mark of the second half.  Barber finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

Eastern opened the second half with a 10-3 run to turn a six-point halftime lead into a 13-point advantage.  A lay-up by #LaRa`e Allen# capped the run at the 14:36 mark and put EKU out in front 36-23.  The Lady Colonels still led by 10, 47-37, after a lay-up by Barber with 9:47 left to play, but the Lady Tigers didn’t fold. 

TSU used a 9-2 run to get within three, 49-46, with five minutes remaining.  However, Raechele Gray answered with a three-pointer, Jasmine Stovall hit a jumper, and Marie Carpenter nailed a trey to push the lead back to 10, 57-47 with four minutes to go.

Jasmin Shuler connected on a three-pointer for TSU to close the gap to seven, but the Lady Tigers never got any closer.  Eastern Kentucky went to the free throw line 14 times in the final three minutes and made 13 to pull away.

Gray finished with 16 points, 10 of which came from the charity stripe.  Carpenter finished with 11 points.  Shuler entered the game averaging a team-best 15 points per game for Tennessee State, but went 2-for-24 from the field.  She scored eight points at the line to finish with 13 for the game.

EKU held the Lady Tigers to 23 percent shooting from the field.  TSU went 1-for-16 from behind the arc.  Eastern shot 39 percent.

In the first half, the Lady Colonels answered an 8-0 Tennessee State run with nine unanswered of their own to start a 17-2 run that turned a 12-7 deficit into a 24-14 lead with 2:27 remaining.  Barber had nine of EKU’s points during the run.  Eastern took a 26-20 lead into the locker room at the break.

The live radio broadcast of EKU’s quarterfinal game against Tennessee Tech is available in the Richmond area on WEKY 1340 AM, and can be heard worldwide on EKUSports.com.  A free live video broadcast of the contest is available on OVCSports.TV.

Notes
Eastern Kentucky earned its first OVC tournament victory since capturing the championship with an 84-73 double overtime win against Southeast Missouri in 2005.

EKU improved its tournament record to 14-19.  The Lady Colonels are now 3-2 all-time as a No. 6 seed.  Eastern improved to 12-6 against lower seeded teams in the OVC tournament.

The Lady Colonels are now 2-0 against Tennessee State in the OVC tournament.

Alex Jones moved to sixth place on EKU’s career rebounds list with 724 boards.  She is 27 rebounds away from a tie for fifth place.

Alex Jones recorded her 23rd career double-double.  She ranks fifth on EKU’s all-time double-doubles list.

Jade Barber cracked the top-10 on EKU’s all-time double-doubles list with her ninth.

Freshman Carla Booth finished with a career-best six assists.

Eastern Kentucky turned the ball over 24 times, but points off turnovers was even at 18-18.

Tennessee State grabbed 23 offensive rebounds, but turned those into only 12 second-chance points.

Eastern improved to 1-1 on Leap Day.