EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Austin Peay State University women's basketball team built its largest lead of the campaign and then held on for a 77-67 Ohio Valley Conference victory against SIU Edwardsville, Monday night, at the Vadalabene Center.

The win was Austin Peay's (6-13, 3-3 OVC) third straight win in conference play and on the road. It is the Lady Govs longest road win streak since the 2005-06 season.

The Lady Govs put together one of their finest halves of the season and built a 20-point, 42-22, halftime advantage. Austin Peay then opened the second half with an 11-4 run to build its largest lead of the season – a 27-point, 53-26, advantage with 16:32 remaining.

SIUE (5-14, 2-5 OVC) began chipping away at that deficit, first with an 11-2 run over the game's next four minutes that cut the deficit to 18 points, 55-37. Austin Peay pushed the lead back to 21 points thanks to junior Kristen Stainback's three-pointer at the 10:50 mark.

The Cougars then cut the deficit to 13 points with a 14-6 run over the next five minutes, leaving APSU with a 70-57 lead. Sophomore Tiasha Gray hit a three-pointer at the 5:26 mark to give the Lady Govs a brief respite. However, it would be Austin Peay's final field goal of the contest.

Austin Peay would go 0-for-4 from the floor in the final five minutes and converted 4-of-7 from the free-throw line. However, SIUE could not make inroads into the deficit as it made just 2-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-9 from the free-throw line. The result was a 10-4 SIUE game-ending run that could not close the deficit.

The Lady Govs opened the game with an impressive first-half performance. Austin Peay forced SIUE to commit 17 turnovers thanks to a 12-steal performance that tied APSU's single-season best. The Lady Govs then shot 41.7 percent (15-of-36) from the floor while limiting the Cougars to 34.5 percent (10-of-29) shooting. Austin Peay enjoyed a 24-point advantage in the frame before settling on the 20-point lead.

Sophomore Tiasha Gray came off the bench and for the third-straight game led APSU, scoring 20 points at SIUE with four assists and four steals. Freshman Tearra Banks added a career-high 19 points to APSU's winning performance. Junior Kristen Stainback chipped in 15 points and senior Nicole Olszewski added 12 points.

Tierny Austin posted a 21-point, 11-rebound performance to pace SIUE. Off the bench, Jessie Wendt and Raven Warford supplied 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Austin Peay returns home and will seek to end a 10-game OVC home losing streak when it hosts Tennessee Tech in a 3 p.m., Saturday contest.