RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University women's basketball team will take to the road for a six-game stretch, beginning with Coastal Carolina and Wofford this weekend. EKU will take on Coastal Carolina Saturday, December 12, for a 2:00 PM contest before heading to Wofford on Sunday. The Lady Colonels and Lady Terriers will tip-off at 2:30 PM.

"I really like the way our team gets after it," said Eastern head coach Larry Joe Inman. "We lead the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring and assist-to-turnover ratio. Right now, we may make some mistakes, but we are just going to get better."

Following this weekend's games, Eastern will travel to Louisville to take part in the Seelbach Tournament December 28-29. The Lady Colonels will then head out to play Southeast Missouri (Jan. 2) and Eastern Illinois (Jan. 4) before returning to Richmond, KY, and McBrayer Arena.

EKU will enter this weekend's play following a split at home. Eastern lost to visiting Tennessee-Martin last Thursday, 88-77, before defeating Murray State Saturday, 83-71.

Against Tennessee-Martin, the Lady Colonels were plagued by early fouls. The opening half saw Eastern commit 13 personal fouls, sending the visiting Skyhawks to the free throw line for 19 charity attempts. However, in the second half, EKU committed 22 personal fouls, resulting in 27 Skyhawk points. Tennessee-Martin senior guard Tessa Fields hit 12 of 13 free throw attempts as her efforts helped solidify UTM's win. Overall, the Skyhawks attempted a school-record 55 free throw attempts, connecting on 37 of those charity tries, just two short of the school-record of 39.

"Tennessee-Martin made it to the final round of the OVC Tournament last season and returned all five starters," said Inman. "Fouls really hurt us late in the game."

Leading the way for Eastern was sophomore forward Charlotte Sizemore. She contributed 15 points, all in the second half. She led EKU's rebounding efforts as she pulled in seven boards. Freshman guard Zoey Artist added a career-best 12 points as she hit six of her eight attempts from the floor. She also collected four rebounds and two assists.

In Saturday's game against Murray State, junior guard Marla Gearhart led the Lady Colonels to the victory behind a career-high 24 points on 12 of 15 shooting from the field. Gearhart also added two rebounds and two assists, without committing a turnover in 29 minutes of action.

Also helping Eastern's winning efforts was Sizemore and senior forward Jennifer King. Sizemore added 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals, while King contributed a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. She also added one assist and one blocked shot.

Freshman Candice Finley picked up the pace at the defensive end as she blocked a career-high three shots and collected three steals.

With the split, Eastern is currently 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

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