RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University women's basketball team defeated Tennessee State Thursday night at McBrayer Arena, 72-58.

After opening the game with the first points of the night on a running jumper by sophomore Charlotte Sizemore, the Lady Colonels found it difficult to find the basket. Tennessee State went on a 15-0 run over the next six minutes to take a commanding 15-2 lead. With just under five minutes left in the first half, the Lady Tigers took their largest lead of the game on a three-point basket by Angela Hassell. That made the score 27-13 in favor of TSU. The Lady Colonels then closed the half on a 12-2 run to take a 29-25 deficit into the locker room at halftime.

The Lady Colonels opened the second half on a 9-4 run to take the lead, 31-30, with 19:10 remaining in the game. Tennessee State then fought back to tie the game at 37-37 with 15:55 showing on the clock. Over the next 13 minutes, Eastern went on a 33-19 run to take a 14-point lead, 70-56. Closing out the final 2:55, each team traded baskets and the Lady Colonels earned the 72-58 conference victory.

"I was proud of our defense the second half," said EKU head coach Larry Joe Inman. "To hold an opponent to only 30 percent shooting means you are doing a good job on defense. This is the second straight game that our defense has played very well."

Eastern was led by Sizemore who scored a career-high 27 points. The forward torched the Lady Tigers for 21 of her 27 points in the second half as she shot 61.5 percent (8 of 13) from the field in the final 20 minutes to help solidify the win. Sizemore was a perfect five for five at the free throw line and pulled in six rebounds.

"Sizemore stepped up," said Inman. "I was really proud of the way Charlotte played tonight."

As a team, EKU rebounded from its poor shooting first half to knock down 62 percent of its shots in the second half. The Lady Colonels also took better care of the ball, committing just nine turnovers as opposed to 15 in the first half.

Senior Jennifer King added eight points and a game-high nine rebounds, while freshman Mikki Bond contributed six points, four assists and four rebounds as she also did a solid job of controlling the ball in Tennessee State's pressing defense.

"Mikki held their pressure tonight maybe better than any senior I have ever coached," said Inman.

Off the bench for the Lady Colonels, senior Shannon Browning added seven points, two assists and three rebounds, while sophomore Susan Hatcher scored six points to go along with her two boards.

"I thought our post played really well tonight," said Inman. "We had more height and I think we took advantage of that. Our post controlled the boards and played well down the stretch."

With the win, the Lady Colonels improve to 6-6 overall and 3-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Eastern will try to add to its current two-game win streak with a home game against Austin Peay on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 PM.

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