RICHMOND, Ky. - Having gained some momentum with a 31-point win Sunday over the College of Charleston, coach Larry Joe Inman's Eastern Kentucky University Lady Colonel basketball team heads to the sunshine state of Florida for three games this week.

Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m., Eastern Kentucky takes on the University of Miami. EKU then travels crosstown to Florida International University for the FIU Thanksgiving Tournament which will be held Friday and Saturday. Eastern opens the tourney against Hartford at 4:00 p.m. Friday and then will either play the host school, FIU, or Long Island University Saturday afternoon.

"Our kids are really looking forward to going down to Florida and playing. Trips like this help our team chemistry, not only on the floor but off the floor as well," said Inman, who has begun his 12^th season this year at the helm of EKU.

Eastern comes into Wednesday's game with Miami with a 1-1 record, having split its Comfort Suites Tipoff Classic games over the weekend at McBrayer Arena. In the opener, Wofford College, who also defeated Morehead State Sunday (68-62), upended EKU, 100-84.

However, Sunday, Eastern used the hot hand of junior forward Charlotte Sizemore and a relentless full-court pressing defense to defeat College of Charleston, 87-56. Sizemore scored a collegiate career high of 33 points, including 20 in the first half, as the Lady Colonels built a 47-27 lead, en route to the 31-point lead.

"I thought we played great full-court defense, but when we dropped back into our half-court defense, we still have some work to do there. Overall, we were pleased with the way we played. We just ran into a hot-shooting team in that first game against Wofford," Inman said.

On the season, Sizemore leads five double digit scorers for EKU with her 23-point per game average. Others in twin digits include junior center Candice Finley and junior substitute forward Susan Hatcher with 11 points each.

Senior guard Marla Gearhart is adding 10 points per game and is giving the Lady Colonels a quality floor game, having passed out 18 assists, while committing only one turnover. Sophomore guard Zoey Artist rounds out twin-digit scorers with her 10-point average.

Eastern returns home Tuesday night, Nov. 30, for a 6:00 p.m. home game with Belmont University. This is the first of 11 EKU women's-men's doubleheaders on tap for the 1999-2000 season as coach Scott Perry's Eastern Kentucky University men's team hosts Loyola University of Chicago that night at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets for all EKU twinbills are on sale weekdays by visiting the EKU Athletic Ticket Office in Room 126 of Alumni Coliseum or by phoning the ticket office at (606) 622-2122 or 1-800-262-7493, inside Kentucky.