RICHMOND — Defense was the difference for the Lady Colonels.

Eastern Kentucky University held Morehead State University without a field goal for more than 10 minutes in the second half Saturday afternoon at McBrayer Arena, turning an eight-point deficit into a double-digit lead on the way to winning 78-68.

Behind 28 points from Linda Dixon, Morehead State (8-16, 5-7) jumped out to a 50-42 lead with 15:50 remaining.

EKU (12-12, 7-6) turned up the defensive pressure, holding Morehead State without a basket for 10:35. The Lady Colonels used a 25-5 run to go up 67-55 with 5:15 remaining.

The Lady Colonels led by at least eight points the rest of the game.

EKU won the battle of the boards, 44-24, and hauled down 17 offensive rebounds.

“I think, from start to finish, we played extremely well on both ends of the floor,” EKU coach Chrissy Roberts said. “We did what we needed to do to win. We stepped up and played. We talked about how this game was going to come down to stops and we got stops when we needed to.”

Dixon scored 20 first-half points and Morehead State led 39-33 at halftime.

The Lady Eagles, behind eight points by Dixon, increased the lead to eight points early in the second half.

A basket by Alex Jones cut the lead to 50-44.

EKU, though, was plagued with fouls and had to put the ball in the hands of Jalisa Bryant, normally the third-string point guard.

Bryant made an immediate impact.

She stole a pass and got a two-on-one fast break going, finishing the play by dishing to Jones for a bucket.

Bryant then tipped a pass and EKU ended up with the ball.

On the other end of the court, Brittany Coles drove into the paint, scoring the basket and drawing the foul.

Coles completed the three-point play to pull EKU within 50-49.

Bryant then drove the lane, dishing off to Jade Bryant for a basket and a 51-50 lead, the Lady Colonels’ first lead since being up 21-20.

“I knew we needed to get stops,” said Bryant, who had four points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 13 minutes of action. “We just wanted the game to come to us. They really tried to press so we would play fast, but we adjusted and slowed it down and got easy looks.”

Barber scored the Lady Colonels’ next five points as EKU increased its lead to 56-51.

Bryant grabbed another steal and took off down the court.

With a defender blanketing her, Bryant drove into the lane, stopped, let the defender run past her, and scored the easy layup.

Jasmine Stovall found the lane wide open and drove to the basket for a score.

Stovall then spotted Raechele Gray open for an easy basket and a 67-55 lead.

“We really worked on executing in practice this week, so we were looking for each other and trying to make the extra pass and knocking shots down,” said Coles, who scored 16 points.

Junior Alex Jones scored 17 points — her most points at home this season — and added six rebounds and a career-high five assists.

“I just tried to take what the defense was giving me,” said Jones, who was seven-of-10 from the field and three-of-three from the free throw line. “They were trying to take away some of the things we did in the first half, but we were able to move the ball and get the looks we wanted.”

Morehead State cut the lead to 71-63, but EKU was seven-of-eight from the free throw line in the final 1:41.

Gray was six-of-six from the charity stripe at the end of the game and had eight points and three assists.

“We adjusted by talking more and communicating better,” Gray said. “We just had to relax and execute and look for the open looks, and they were there all night.”

Barber added 14 points and 11 rebounds for EKU.

Stovall, starting for leading scorer Marie Carpenter, who was suspended for making an obscene gesture at Eastern Illinois, scored nine points and had five rebounds.

Carla Booth had eight points and LaRa’e Allen scored two points.

EKU plays Saturday at 8 p.m. at Tennessee Tech.