RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University Lady Colonel women's basketball team tuned up for the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a 91-86 overtime victory over Southeast Missouri Saturday afternoon in EKU's McBrayer Arena.

EKU will face Murray State Tuesday night at Murray at 5:30 p.m. CST in the opening round of the OVC Tournament with the winner heading to Nashville, Mar. 4-5, for the Final Four of the OVC Tourney. The Lady Racers were defeated 73-49 by Tennessee Tech and finished tied for third place in the league standings, but lost the tiebreaker to UT Martin for third seed because the Skyhawks had defeated Tech, the top team on Thursday.

The win over Southeast Missouri moved Eastern to 13-14 overall and 10-8 in OVC play, placing the Lady Colonels fifth in the final regular season standings. Southeast Missouri dropped to 11-16 overall and 7-11 in OVC play.

"It was all-out war out there. Both teams played nose-to-nose and toe-to-toe," said EKU head coach Larry Joe Inman. "We needed this game to get some momentum going into the tournament. We got down in this game, but our team hung tough and didn't quit.

"This year's team exemplifies TEAM. I can't praise them enough. Nobody's selfish. They play hard and enjoy playing together. They have shown a lot of pride, dignity and character since early in the season when we lost Charlotte (Sizemore) and Larrya (Wall) to those knee injuries."

Freshman forward Teresa McNair led the Lady Colonels with 20 points as all five EKU starters hit for double figures. Senior guard Marla Gearhart, who was honored in Senior Day pre-game ceremonies, added 16 points, while junior center Candice Finley had 13 points and junior forward Susan Hatcher and sophomore guard Mikki Bond had 12 points each.

EKU hit 46.6 percent from the field, 71.4 percent from the line and pulled down 41 rebounds, one shy of SEMO's team total of 42. Mikki Bond led Eastern on the boards with seven rebounds.

The remaining matchups for the OVC Tournament Tuesday first round have Tennessee Tech hosting Eastern Illinois, Middle Tennessee entertaining Southeast Missouri and UT Martin hosting Austin Peay.

The OVC Tournament semifinals are slated for Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., while the tournament championship game will be played live on FOXSports South at 5:00 p.m. CST Sunday at Nashville.