RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University women's basketball team dropped its Ohio Valley Conference season opener to visiting Tennessee-Martin, 88-77. Despite being tied at halftime, the Lady Colonels were outscored 55-44 in the second half. The win marked Tennessee-Martin's second ever victory over Eastern and its first ever at McBrayer Arena.

As it has been thus far this season, 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.

Leading the way for Eastern was sophomore forward Charlotte Sizemore. She contributed 15 points, all in the second half. She also led EKU's rebounding efforts as she pulled 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.

Tennessee-Martin got solid contribution from many players, as five Skyhawks topped the 10-point mark. Leading the efforts for UTM was junior Zabrina Harris, who had a 22-point performance coming in off the bench. Harris completed a double-double as she collected 10 rebounds. The other four Skyhawks scoring in double figures were Fields (20), Tamika Brown (16), Chastity Bohannan (14) and Tracy Webb (11). Bohannan added a double-double herself as she ripped down a game-high 13 rebounds.

The loss drops Eastern to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the OVC as UTM improves its record to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

Eastern will try to rebound as it hosts Murray State in McBrayer Arena on Saturday. That match is slated to tip-off at 2:00 PM.

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