Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Despite scoring the first seven points of the game and taking a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter, Eastern Kentucky lost at Jacksonville State, 73-55, on Monday.
 
An old-fashioned three-point play by Jayla Johnson and a lay-up from Emma Hacker staked the Colonels to a 7-0 lead.  The Gamecocks didn't score their first points until the 6:56 mark.  EKU led by as many as nine on four occasions in the first quarter, including at the end of the period after a Johnson jumper made it 20-11.
 
Eastern shot 60 percent (9-of-15) and only turned the ball over twice in the first quarter.
 
The second quarter was much different.  JSU scored the first 14 points as the Colonels didn't scratch the scoring column until the 3:20 mark when Bria Bass connected on a lay-up.  Those were the only points in the quarter for the visitors, who were out-scored 23-2.  EKU made just 1-of-10 shot attempts and turned the ball over nine times in the second.
 
Keiara Griffin's three-pointer with 4:33 to play before intermission capped the Gamecocks run and made it 25-20.  A lay-up in the final 10 seconds by Kennedy Gavin sent Jacksonville State to the locker room ahead by 12, 34-22.
 
The Colonels turned it around to start the third quarter, starting 4-for-6 from the field and scoring the first nine points to draw within three.  A three-pointer from Kendall Wingler and a jumper by the freshman with 6:39 to go in the period made it a 34-31 game.  JSU's first basket was a three-pointer from Imari Martin with 6:03 remaining in the quarter. 
 
Eastern Kentucky was down by four, 45-41, after a lay-up from Alice Recanati, but the Gamecocks ended the period on an 8-2 run to go on top by 10, 53-43.
 
EKU (7-12, 6-9 OVC) never got closer than eight in the fourth quarter.
 
Wingler finished with a team-best 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.  She hit on 3-of-6 from three-point range.  Johnson added 11 points.  Bass contributed nine points and a season-high 10 rebounds.
 
Martin led all players with 24 points for Jacksonville State (12-6, 9-5 OVC). 
 
JSU shot 47 percent from the field and made 50 percent from long range (10-of-20).  Eastern hit on 42 percent of its shots, but was 4-for-20 from behind the arc.
 
The Colonels will play at Southeast Missouri on Thursday at 6 p.m.