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RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team improved to 10-1 at home this season thanks to a 62-54 victory over Tennessee State Monday night in McBrayer Arena. The Lady Colonels used an 8-0 run in the waning minutes to secure the win.

Eastern (12-7, 6-2 OVC) has now won five straight meetings over Tennessee State (8-11, 4-4).

Junior guard Marie Carpenter paced the Lady Colonels with 19 points, the most points she has scored in an OVC game this year. Meanwhile, senior center Jade Barber chipped in with her 10th double-double – 15 points, 15 rebounds.

For Tennessee State, Simone Hopes and Jasmin Shuler combined for 33 points.

The visiting Lady Tigers jumped on top early, 10-2, as EKU netted just one of its first 13 field goal attempts. Tennessee State led the entire first half and would go up by as many as 11 points following a Hopes lay-up, 23-12.

Eastern had its worst home shooting half of the season in the first 20 minutes (19.4 percent), but managed to end the stanza on a 6-1 run to stay within striking distance at intermission, 24-18.

The Lady Colonels continued to roll early in the second half with nine straight points, highlighted by a Carpenter three-pointer, to take a 27-24 lead. After TSU briefly went back on top at 28-27, Eastern rattled off 11 more points in a row, capped by a Raechele Gray trifecta, to build a 38-28 cushion.

Eastern Kentucky’s lead eventually ballooned to 13 points following a Jalisa Bryant three-pointer with 10:29 left, 43-30. However, Tennessee State slowly clawed its way back into the game and regained the lead when Kesi Hess drilled a three-pointer to make the score 49-48 with five minutes remaining.

Moments later, senior Brittany Coles gave Eastern the lead for good with a put-back in the lane. The Lady Colonels reeled off six more points in a row, including lay-ups from Barber and Coles, to stretch the lead back to eight points, 57-49, with less than a minute to play.

Tennessee State never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Tennessee State head coach Larry Joe Inman made his first return to EKU since retiring as the Lady Colonels head coach in 2008. Inman was 319-244 in 20 years as Eastern Kentucky head coach and is a member of the EKU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Eastern hits the road for its next three games beginning with a trip to Southeast Missouri on Saturday, Feb. 2.