RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University women's basketball team dropped an Ohio Valley Conference contest at Tennessee-Martin Tuesday, 83-74. With the loss, the Lady Colonels fall to 7-7 overall and 4-3 in the league.

The Lady Colonels led most of the first half, but the offense seemed to stall with 24 points on the scoreboard. With 6:06 left on the clock, Eastern took a six-point lead on the second of two free throws by freshman Zoey Artist. That made the score 24-18 in favor of EKU. The Lady Colonels found trouble scoring in the final six minutes, as the team only managed three more points in that span. During that time, UTM scored 11 points to take a 29-28 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

In the second half, the Lady Colonels made too many mistakes at crucial moments of the game. With 17:16 left in the game, Eastern's leading scorer, sophomore Charlotte Sizemore, picked up her third personal foul. She then immediately received a technical disputing the call, giving her four personals. That forced EKU head coach Larry Joe Inman into substituting for Sizemore and limited her time in the second half. At that point, Eastern led by two, 37-35. Without Sizemore on the floor, UTM went on a 21-9 run over the next seven minutes to take a commanding 11-point lead, 57-46. In the final 10 minutes, the Lady Colonels could get no closer than seven points, cutting the lead to 81-74 with only 21 seconds remaining.

Eastern was not able to stop Tennessee-Martin's two big scorers in guard Tessa Fields and forward Zabrina Harris. Fields finished the game with 18 points, all coming in the second half, while Harris, the OVC's leading scorer, added 24 points.

"We talked about needing to play good defense and shutting down their top scorers," said EKU assistant coach Kent Miller. "We didn't get it done."

EKU committed 27 turnovers in the game, with 15 of those coming in the second half.

"We made some ill-advised passes at key points in the game," said Miller. "We had big possessions where we just threw it away."

Eastern outrebounded the Skyhawks, 36-32, hit 63 percent of its free throws and shot well from the floor (49 percent), but it was Tennessee-Martin who earned the win, shooting 53 percent, including hitting 65.5 percent of its shots in the second half.

"Free throws have been shooting us in the foot all year," said Miller. "We had opportunities early, getting Fields in foul trouble, but we did not capitalize on those chances. Sixty-three percent looks decent, but it should have been higher.

"We outrebounded them, but I think we should have done a better job," continued Miller. "There coach (Gary Van Atta) did a good job protecting his players when they got in foul trouble. When Fields and Harris picked up too many fouls, Van Atta went to a zone defense. They are really not a zone defense team. That's why I think he is one of the best coaches in the OVC."

Leading the way for Eastern was Sizemore, who ended the night with 21 points, two assists, two blocks, three steals and five rebounds. Sizemore, in only her second season, is averaging 17.7 points per game and is third in the conference in that category.

Sophomore Larrya Wall came in off the bench to add 12 points, two boards, three assists and five steals, while Artist, in her second career started, contributed 10 points and three assists. Senior Cathy Dues took control of rebounding when she was in the game. Dues ended with a game-high nine rebounds and added nine points.

The Lady Colonels will return home to take on Morehead State on Saturday. That game is scheduled to tipoff at 2:00 PM at McBrayer Arena.

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