Huntington, W. Va. --- The Tennessee State University women’s basketball team dropped a 78-56 decision to Fifth Third Classic host Marshall University Friday night in Cam Henderson Center.

Kendra Appling, the only Lady Tiger to reach double-figures, led TSU with a game-high 21 points.

Tennessee State (1-2) shot 28.1 percent (16-of-57) from the field and 63.4 percent (18-of-28) from the charity stripe for the game while Marshall (3-0) knocked down over 65 percent (27-of-41) of its shots. The Thundering Herd recorded a 65.4 shooting percentage (18-of-28) from the free-throw line.   

Meredith Stafford knocked down a three-pointer to score the first points of the game but Marshall quickly answered back and took a 4-3 lead on a made free-throw. Holding a 13-9 lead, Marshall used an 11-0 run to move ahead 24-9 at the 11:42 mark. The Herd then outscored the Lady Tigers 11-2 to swell the lead to 35-11 with 6:44 left to play in the half.

TSU used a small run to cut the deficit to 17 points and went into halftime trailing 45-28.  

The Lady Tigers were 8-of-28 (28.6 %) from the field and 2-of-9 (22.2%) from three-point land in the first half.

Marshall built the lead back up to 20 (53-33) after opening the second half with an 8-5 run. The Lady Tigers’ efforts to get back into the game fell short as the Herd scored 33 second half points and shot 60 percent from the field. Marshall maintained a comfortable lead for the rest of the game.

The Lady Tigers return to action tomorrow when they face the Bears of Morgan State in the consolation game of the tournament.