RICHMOND, Ky. - Paced by a ball-hawking defense that helped create 27 Lady Raider turnovers, coach Larry Joe Inman's Eastern Kentucky University Lady Colonel basketball team led from the start in blasting Middle Tennessee, 90-70, in Ohio Valley Conference action at Eastern's McBrayer Arena Thursday night.

EKU built up a 10-point halftime lead (37-27) and then, in the first 5:24 of the second stanza, ballooned that cushion to 19 (56-37) and the rout was on. Eastern's biggest lead was 28 points, 73-45, with 10:13 left on the clock as the Colonels won their second game in a row and remained undefeated in league play at 2-0.

"We played another tremendous defensive game," said Inman as he saw his team inch toward the .500 mark at 5-6 overall. "We hit some big shots when we needed to and did a nice job on the free throw line (29-34). This was a huge win for our young, scrappy team and should give them some confidence when we play Tennessee Tech Saturday (2:00 p.m. at EKU)."

Two Lady Colonels finished the night with 'double-doubles'. Junior center Candice Finley led all scorers with 23 points and pulled in 10 rebounds. Freshman forward Teresa McNair continued her stellar play, scoring 12 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and coming up with eight of Eastern's 19 steals.

Senior guard Marla Gearhart added 20 points, while sophomore guard Zoey Artist tied her career high with 16 points off the bench. Both she and Gearhart led Eastern at the free throw line by hitting 7-8 free throws each.

Forward Joanne Aluka topped Middle Tennessee, 5-6 overall and 2-1 in the OVC, with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Kelly Chastain hit for 11 points.