RICHMOND, Ky. – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team earned a hard-fought victory, 54-49, on the road at Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday night.  
 
EKU (7-13, 4-3) was just one win out of second place in the Ohio Valley Conference entering the night. But the Gamecocks (9-11, 2-6 OVC) held tough in a back-and-forth battle leading to their first conference road win of the season. The victory makes it three straight years JSU has walked away from McBrayer Arena with a win.

Tyler Phelion led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds. Lacey Buchanon also finished in double figures with 10 points. Briana Benson recorded a team-high 12 rebounds followed by Rayven Pearson with nine. 
 
It took both teams a little while to find their rhythm offensively as JSU and EKU combined to shoot just 4-of-30 from the floor in the first period. JSU led early, but the Colonels held a 7-4 lead after the first. The four lone points were the fewest by JSU in a quarter this season.
 
The scoring drought carried into the second quarter as the Gamecocks called time with 5:29 remaining in the half, trailing 13-6. A 12-2 JSU run over the next three minutes, capped by Kelly Naughton's three-pointer, gave JSU the lead near halftime. The Colonels bounced back with consecutive buckets to take a 20-18 lead into the half.
 
Early in the third the home team climbed out to a five-point lead, 28-23, for the largest margin of the second half. Overall, the game featured 13 lead changes. The Gamecocks retook the lead with 2:58 to play in the third, 31-30, but it was the Colonels who opened the final period with a one-point advantage.
 
The final tie of the game came at 46 followed by Buchanon's layin to put JSU ahead with just over a minute to go. On the following possession EKU lost the ball out of bounds giving JSU control with 48 seconds remaining. The Gamecocks were unable to cushion the lead, but ran the clock down to 17 ticks. The Colonels came up short on the next drive and fouled Buchanon with nine seconds. With a 52-49 lead, JSU forced EKU to miss on its last-second attempt. Briana Benson hit a pair of free throws in less than a second to seal the victory.   

JSU returns to Jacksonville for an early afternoon 1:30 tip time on Saturday, Jan. 28, against Morehead State.