Nashville --- The Tennessee State University women’s basketball team remained undefeated at home and moved into a tie for second place in the OVC race with Thursday night’s win over Jacksonville State.

 

Tennessee State (10-9, 6-2 OVC) scored the first points of the game and never trailed Jacksonville State (4-14, 1-7 OVC) in the contest.

 

Kendra Appling tallied 25 points to lead TSU while Tiffany Jackson added 15. Chelsea Cromartie came off the bench to pull down 10 boards for the Lady Tigers.

 

Brittany Wiley notched a team-high 21 points for the Gamecocks.

 

With TSU leading 26-18, a made free-throw by Tiffany Jackson sparked a 10-0 run that gave the Lady Tigers a 36-18 advantage.

 

The Gamecocks answered with a 7-2 run and managed to cut the Lady Tiger lead down to 38-25 going into the break.

 

Kendra Appling nailed a three-pointer to open the second half, pushing TSU’s lead to 41-25, but JSU put together a small rally to bring the score to 43-31.

 

TSU answered with an 11-1 run that gave the Lady Tigers their biggest lead of the game (54-32) at the 13:16 mark.

 

The Gamecocks cut the deficit down to 13-points (63-50) with 2:28 left in the game but that would be as close as they would get.

 

Tennessee State’s struggles from the free-throw line continued (8-of-21) but the Lady Tigers won the battle of the boards 44-40. TSU only committed 12 turnovers and forced JSU into 20.

 

The Lady Tigers recorded 12 steals to the Gamecocks’ two.

 

The Lady Tigers will play the final contest of a three-game home stint on Saturday when they host the Golden Eagles of Tennessee-Tech.