TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 68, West Virginia State 43
Tennessee State 69, @Lipscomb 60
Morehead State 57, @UAB 50
@UT Martin 87,Southern Miss 80 (OT)
EASTERN KENTUCKY 68, WEST VIRGINIA STATE 43
RICHMOND, Ky. - Four Lady Colonels scored in double figures as the Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team remained undefeated at home by defeating West Virginia State, 68-43, on Tuesday night at McBrayer Arena.
Senior Raechele Gray led a balanced Eastern scoring effort with 13 points, while senior Brittany Coles poured in 12 points and dished out a career-high six assists. Senior Jade Barber, meanwhile, recorded her 15th career double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, and senior Alex Jones contributed 10 points and nine boards. Junior Pilar Walker also had a big game off the bench for the Lady Colonels, scoring eight points, dishing out five assists and notching two steals.
Jasmine Blanton paced WVSU (3-4) with 11 points, while Kashauna Cook came off the bench to record 10 points and seven rebounds.
EKU (6-5) led by only two, 20-18, with 7:12 remaining in the first half, but ended the half on a 16-5 run as Jones knocked down a baseline jumper at the buzzer to give the Lady Colonels their largest lead of the half, 36-23, at halftime.
Eastern carried that momentum into the final 20 minutes of play, as Coles, Gray and senior Jalisa Bryant all knocked down three-pointers out of the break to balloon the Lady Colonels’ lead to 22, 48-26, at the first media timeout of the second half.
EKU would lead by at least 20 points the rest of the way.
Tuesday’s game was the Lady Colonels’ final tune-up before Ohio Valley Conference action. EKU’s next game is at Murray State on New Year’s Eve at 2:00 p.m.
TENNESSEE STATE 69, LIPSCOMB 60
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In a game that came down to the final minutes, the Tennessee State University women’s basketball team gutted out a, 69-60, win over cross-town opponent Lipscomb University Tuesday night in Allen Arena.
TSU trailed by double-digits in the first half but used key rallies in the contest to pull out the victory. With the win, Tennessee State (4-6) extended its all-time series record over Lipscomb to 18-3.
The Lady Bisons fell to 1-8 on the season.
Jasmin Shuler paced the TSU offense with a season-high 24 points to go with three steals. Chelsea Hudson also recorded double-figures with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Freshman Brianna Lawrence came off the bench to register seven points, four rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
Early in the first half, the score was tied at 5-all when Lipscomb used a 7-0 run to capture a 12-5 advantage. After another spurt, the Lady Bisons went ahead by double-digits with about eight minutes left in half.
An offensive rebound and putback by Chelsea Hudson followed by Avery Jones’ layup in the paint sparked a TSU rally that would shift the momentum to the Lady Tigers.
TSU turned up its defensive pressure and outscored LU, 16-5, to close out the first half. The Lady Tigers led, 26-25, at halftime.
Jasmin Shuler drained a triple from the top of the key to christen the second half before Avery Jones scored to make the tally, 31-25, in favor of TSU.
Lipscomb stayed within striking distance and pulled to within one twice before regaining the lead with consecutive three-pointers.
Over the next several possessions the teams traded buckets and the lead wavered back and forth. Lipscomb took advantage of a couple TSU turnovers and went ahead, 53-49 but Jasmin Shuler answered with back-to-back buckets to pull the Lady Tigers even (6:51).
On TSU’s next trip down the floor, Brianna Lawrence nailed her second three-pointer of the game to put the Lady Tigers on top, 56-53. Despite Lipscomb threatening, Tennessee State would not trail again.
As time ticked off the clock, TSU was holding on to a slight, 60-58 when Jasmin Shuler buried a 15-footer to give the Lady Tigers a four-point cushion with less than a minute remaining.
When Lipscomb was forced to foul, Tennessee State knocked down seven free-throws to seal the win.
TSU dominated the boards, 40-29, shot 43.8 percent (21-of-48) from the field and knocked down 24-of-34 free-throws (70.6 percent). The Lady Tigers also tallied 12 steals and five blocks in the contest.
The Lady Tigers will break for the Christmas holiday before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 29 in the first Ohio Valley Conference action of the season against Eastern Illinois. Game time is slated for 5:30 p.m. in the Gentry Center.
MOREHEAD STATE 57, UAB 50
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Junior guard Terrice Robinson scored 25 points, including coverting 8-for-8 at the free throw line, and the Morehead State women's basketball team ended an eight-game losing skid by knocking off host UAB, 57-50, Tuesday at Bartow Arena.
MSU moved to 2-9 by using a 17-2 second-half run to upend the Blazers, who fell to 7-3. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Arledge grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds and drew two key offensive fouls on the Blazers in the final minute to help the Eagles maintain their advantage. Junior guard Tyler Ituen tallied a season-high 10 points, one short of her career high.
The Eagles forced 19 UAB turnovers and connected on 15-of-18 at the free throw line, including 7-of-8 in the final 2:38. After hitting just 29 percent (8-of-28) from the field in the first half, MSU drilled 50 percent (10-of-20) in the final 20 minutes and forced the Blazers to connect on just 28 percent (8-of-29) of their attempts.
MSU got a pair of three-pointers from Robinson and junior guard Allie Turner late in the first thalf to trail 27-22 at intermission. UAB used a 14-2 first-half run to build its largest lead at 27-14. The Blazers held a 32-22 advantage with 16 minutes left, but Ituen's layup ignited the 17-2 run that finished with a pair of Robinson free throws at the 8:39 mark. MSU led 39-34 and only trailed once more down the stretch. Robinson scored 11 straight for the Eagles at one point.
UAB climbed back ahead 46-43 with 5:05 left, but MSU outscored the hosts 14-4 and allowed just one field goal in the final five minutes.
Ashley Grimes hit a quartet of three-pointers and finished with 14 points to lead the hosts, who played without their leading scorer Amber Jones (14.3 points per game). Karisma Chapman and Chelsee Black notched 11 each. UAB posted a 39-31 rebounding edge.
Morehead State returns home to host Kent State Friday at 7 p.m. ET.
UT MARTIN 87, SOUTHERN MISS 80
MARTIN, Tenn. - UT Martin played its second straight overtime contest as the Skyhawks defeated Southern Miss, 87-80.
UTM had four players reach double-figures in points with Heather Butler leading the way with 24. Jasmine Newsome recorded 23 while Richiesha Braynt added 15 and Katie Schubert chipped in 11. Butler connected on five three-pointers in the game while also dihsing out a game-high seven assists. Braynt also had a team-high seven boards.
With :55 seconds left in overtime, Butler found herself at the free throw line again. This time around she made both free throws to give the Skyhawks an 86-80 lead.
Newsome hit a 3-pointer with 1:10 to play in overtime to give the Skyhawks an 84-77 advantage and then with :32 seconds left she hit the first of two free throws to make it 87-80. Newsome, also a junior, finished the game with 23 points, four 3-pointers, six rebounds and five assists.
Newsome tied the game at 71-71 with a pair of free throws with :10 seconds left in regulation.
UT Martin trailed 42-33 at the half, but outscored Southern Miss 38-29 in the second half.
Despite the Southern Miss quickness and Jamierra Faulkner’s 36 points and 10 rebounds, UT Martin managed to keep things close. With 10:30 to play, UT Martin cut the Southern Miss lead to six points when Schubert knocked down a 3-pointer. The Skyhawks made it a six-point game, 59-53, when Bryant scored with 7:37 to go.
The Skyhawks rallied down the stretch and cut the Southern Miss lead to five points, 67-62, with 3:45 to play. The Skyhawks made three consecutive 3-pointers and relied on a Butler steal to make their move.
Senior Tanecka Carey scored 25 points for Southern Miss. She made five 3-pointers in the game, including three in the first half to lead the Lady Eagles to a 15-3 run at the start of the game.
With the victory the Skyhawks are now 5-8 on the year, while Southern Miss is 5-5. The Skyhawks will close out their non-conference slate Saturday at UAB. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.