RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University women's basketball team hosts Austin Peay State University Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. at McBrayer Arena.

EKU comes into the game trying to shake a four-game Ohio Valley Conference losing streak which has dropped the Lady Colonels into fifth place in the latest conference standings with a 6-6 league record. Overall, Eastern stands 9-12.

Austin Peay comes in tied for third place, one game ahead of EKU at 7-5 in the league. The Lady Govs are 11-10 overall.

"We lack experienced depth in the post and teams are taking advantage of that," said EKU head coach Larry Joe Inman. "But we're just not doing a good job defensively, inside or outside. We're not playing any halfcourt defense at all. Home never looked so good!"

Eastern has already had its share of injuries this season - starters Charlotte Sizemore and Larrya Wall were lost for the year - with knee injuries, but the Lady Colonels received a scare in the early moments of the Middle Tennessee game last Thursday when senior guard Marla Gearhart had to leave the game with an ankle injury.

She returned a few minutes later and hobbled through the rest of the game, scoring 14 points in Eastern's 82-74 loss to the Blue Raiders. Gearhart came back two nights later to score 15 points in an 87-54 loss to Tennessee Tech.

Gearhart leads four double-figure scorers for Eastern with her 20.0 per game average, which also ranks her second in the league in scoring. Junior center Candice Finley is adding 12.9 points per game and tops the team in rebounding with her 5.9 per game mark.

Freshman forward Teresa McNair is averaging 10.0 points per game and leads the league in steals with 74. Rounding out the starting lineup are junior forward Susan Hatcher at 9.1 points per game and sophomore guard Mikki Bond at 6.2.

Sophomore forward Zoey Artist, averaging 11.9 points per game inside OVC play, adds 8.8 points per game for the Lady Colonels off the bench.

Following the EKU-APSU matchup Thursday night, Eastern closes the brief two-game homestand Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. contest at McBrayer Arena with Tennessee State.

Tickets to Eastern's remaining home games may be obtained by visiting the EKU Athletic Ticket Office in Room 126 of Alumni Coliseum weekdays from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. or by phoning the ticket office at (606) 622-2122 or 1-800-262-7493, inside Kentucky.