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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team led by as many 14 points early in the second half, but could not hang on to the lead, as host Tennessee State rallied down the stretch to defeat the Lady Colonels, 69-66, in their regular season finale on Saturday night at the Gentry Center.

EKU closes out the regular season with a record of 17-10 (11-5 OVC). The Lady Colonels will be the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Ohio Valley Conference Tournament and will play the No. 8 seed Murray State (16-12, 8-8 OVC) in the first round on Wednesday, March 6, at 1:00 p.m. ET. EKU went on the road and defeated Murray State, 69-49, during the regular season.

Eastern exploded out of the gate on Saturday night, matching a season-high with 10 three-pointers in the first half alone. Junior Marie Carpenter was the leader of the long-range assault, knocking down 6-of-7 trifectas to finish the first half with 22 points. When senior Raechele Gray converted a layup at the buzzer, the Lady Colonels headed into the locker room at halftime with a comfortable 11-point advantage, 40-29.

The momentum carried into the second half, as senior Alex Jones scored six straight points to extend the EKU lead to 14, 49-35, with 16:50 to play in the game. However, TSU slowly chipped away at the lead, steadily feeding the ball to Simone Hopes in the paint, who delivered 16 key second half points to fuel the comeback. A jumper by Hopes gave the Lady Tigers their first lead of the second half, 57-56, with 5:24 on the clock.

EKU recaptured the lead and was up by three, 66-63, with just under a minute to play in the game. It was then that TSU’s Jasmine Shuler was fouled while shooting a three-pointer and converted all three foul shots to tie the score. Gray then missed a jumper on EKU’s next possession and TSU’s Rachel Allen was fouled on the opposite end of the floor. Allen made one free throw to give TSU the lead with 10 seconds on the clock.

Eastern turned the ball over on its next trip down the floor and Kessi Hess made two more foul shots to seal the win for the Lady Tigers.

Carpenter finished the game with 26 points, while Jones record her 36th career double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Jones enters the OVC Tournament nine rebounds shy of breaking the EKU career record.

EKU finished with a season-high 11 three-pointers in the loss.

Hopes and Hess paced the TSU upset with 18 points apiece.