RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky women's basketball (1-1) displayed an offensive clinic on Friday night inside Baptist Health Arena as the team earned its first win of the season over Appalachian State (0-2) by a score of 95-63.
Danielle Rainey led the Colonels with a career-high 30 points on 8-of-15 shooting from beyond the arch, surpassing teammate
Antwainette Walker's 29 points in the season opener for the highest individual performance since 2017.
Walker followed suit notching her own 26 points and 11 rebounds showing for her second double-double through the first two games of the season.
Kalissa Lacy (14 points) and
Bridgid Fox (10 points) also found themselves in double-digit scoring efforts en route to the 32-point victory over the Mountaineers.
Rainey got the Colonels off to a hot start making three 3-pointers to push EKU to a 13-4 lead early into the first quarter. App State would go on to score on three-straight possessions to narrow the deficit to eight points. Lacy drained a three from the right corner to close the first frame for her first points of the evening.
App State held EKU scoreless for the first three minutes into the second quarter, four made free throws by Walker stopped the bleeding to extend the Colonel margin to nine. With one minute left, Rainey sank her fourth three to send EKU to the locker room with a 36-24 lead.
Ariel Kirkwood made the most of her minutes out of the halftime pause and totaled four of EKU's eight points through the first two minutes in the third quarter. Rainey hit two three pointers on back-to-back possessions to strengthen the Colonel lead to 18 points at the media timeout. EKU would end the third quarter with a 20-5 run to push the lead to 32 heading into the fourth.
Another pair of Rainey made threes mid-way through the final frame would solidify the Colonel's first win of the 2022-23 campaign.
EKU's 12 made three pointers is the highest value since January 19, 2022, when the Colonels defeated Lipscomb at home 77-41.
Eastern Kentucky shot 31-of-64 (.484) from the floor and 21-of-27 (.778) from the charity stripe to equal its largest margin of victory since last November.
The Colonels return to action this Sunday, Nov. 13 to host regional foe Morehead State at 6:00 p.m. ET inside Baptist Health Arena. Sunday's contest marks the 50-year anniversary of the rivalry between the two programs dating back to 1972, EKU leads the all-time series 56-46.
Follow Us
Keep up with everything EKU women's basketball on Instagram (
@ekuwbb) and Twitter (
@EKUWBB).
