Jacksonville, Ala. --- The Tennessee State University women's basketball team picked up a crucial OVC win Saturday afternoon by defeating Jacksonville State, 58-42, in the Pete Mathews Coliseum.

Tennessee State (8-19, 4-12 OVC) held Jacksonville State (9-19, 6-11 OVC) to 14 first half points and used a 17-1 run in the second half to open up the game.

Sophomore Destiney Gaston recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Lady Tigers. Kim Haynes tallied 13 points while Avery Jones just missed a double-double with eight points and 12 boards.

Danielle Beneby and Brittany Wiley led the Gamecocks with nine points while Destiney Lane grabbed 10 rebounds.

TSU held JSU without a field goal in the opening six minutes of the game, allowing the Lady Tigers to jump out to a, 9-1, lead.

Over the next ten minutes, however, Jacksonville State outscored Tennessee State, 11-3, to knot the score at 12-all with 6:09 left in the half.

A triple from Jasmine Brimm put TSU back on top, 15-12, but a quick bucket from Danielle Beneby brought JSU to within one. The Lady Tigers closed out the half with a 7-0 run to carry a, 22-14, lead into the break.

An 8-2 run to open the second half by JSU cut the TSU lead down to two, 24-22, before the first media timeout. A triple from Kim Haynes made the score, 27-22 but JSU answered to pull within three.

TSU was leading, 29-26, when a three-point bomb from Kim Haynes sparked a, 17-1, run over a span of about four minutes to capture a 46-27 lead over JSU.  The rally was fueled by the Lady Tiger post players as Gaston, Jones, Hopes and Morris combined for 14 of the 17 points during the run.

The Lady Tigers swelled the advantage to 51-31 after Jasmine Shuler buried a three-pointer from the top of the key (7:14).  A triple from the corner by Meredith Stafford gave the Lady Tigers their largest lead of the game, 54-33, with 6:02 left to play.

The Lady Tigers never looked back.

TSU shot 30.6 percent (19-of-62) from the field, including 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from three-point range while JSU only managed to knock down 24.2 percent (16-of-66) from the floor and 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from beyond the arc.

The Lady Tigers held the advantage in rebounds, 52-47, and assists, 12-6, while knocking down 87.5 percent (14-of-16) from the charity stripe.

Tennessee State returns to action next Thursday with a home contest against Southeast Missouri. Game time is slated for 5:30 p.m. in the Gentry Center.