RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University Lady Colonel basketball team will begin defense of its Ohio Valley Conference crown as the 1998-99 league schedule gets underway at McBrayer Arena on Thursday. EKU will host Tennessee-Martin in a 6:30 PM tip-off. Two days later, on Saturday, the Lady Colonels will be back at it, entertaining Murray State. That meeting is slated to begin at 2:00 PM.
"Both Tennessee-Martin and Murray State play good defense and offense," said EKU head coach Larry Joe Inman. "Martin returns everyone and Murray State had a very good recruiting year. We are capable of playing with both teams, but we will have to play well."
Eastern Kentucky will open the OVC schedule sporting a 1-2 record after coming off a 105-89 defeat at Xavier last Saturday.
"I was disappointed in our defensive effort at Xavier," continued Inman, "but I was pleased with our offense."
Leading all scorers in the Xavier contest was Eastern's sophomore forward Charlotte Sizemore. The second year player out of Hazard, KY, netted a season high 23 points. She also added a career best nine assists, along with six rebounds. Junior guard Marla Gearhart also had a good showing in the loss as she contributed 19 points, six assists, one steal and six rebounds.
After taking a 15 point deficit into the locker room at halftime, the Lady Colonels made some good adjustments and came out in the second half ready to play. Despite Xavier's 56.7 shooting percentage in the game, the Lady Colonels played well against the Musketeers. Eastern played nearly straight up with Xavier, only being outscored by one point in the second half. A balanced attack helped Xavier defeat Eastern as four Musketeers scored in double digits.
Following this weekend's games, the Lady Colonels will not return home for more than a month. The next scheduled home contest for Eastern will come on January 7th when EKU will host Tennessee State.
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