RICHMOND, Ky. - Coach Larry Joe Inman's Eastern Kentucky University Lady Colonels' basketball team opens Ohio Valley Conference Tournament play Tuesday in Martin, TN, against the UT-Martin Skyhawks in a 7:00 p.m. CST game.

EKU, currently struggling through a seven-game losing streak, finished the season in sixth place in the final OVC standings with an 8-10 loop record, while compiling an 11-15 overall record.

UT Martin finished as tri-champion of the OVC this season with Middle Tennessee and Tennessee Tech with 14-4 league records, but, on the tiebreaker system, have been seeded third. The Skyhawks have won six in a row and stand 17-9 on the season.

"This is a tough draw, but when you go on the road in the OVC, they're all tough," said Inman. "UT Martin has beaten us twice, but our games with them have been competitive.

"We know we've got to do a better job of making our shots and taking care of the basketball. Thirty-six percent shooting and 29 turnovers like we had in our game Saturday against Middle Tennessee (an 81-71 loss to the Lady Raiders) won't get it done come tournament time. Our people are going to have step up and pull themselves out of this slump."

UT Martin got the best of Eastern in the first meeting between the two teams in December in Richmond, 88-77, and then upended the Lady Colonels in Martin, 83-74, in early January.

In the two EKU-UTM games this year, Eastern has hit the basket with better regularity, notching an overall percentage of 44.4 percent against the Skyhawks in these games. Several Lady Colonels are hitting above 50 percent from the field against UT Martin on the year, including freshman guard Mikki Bond (6-6, 1.000), freshman guard Zoey Artist (9-13, 69.2), sophomore guard Larrya Wall (5-8, 62.5) and sophomore center Candice Finley (8-13, 61.5).

Sophomore forward Charlotte Sizemore has averaged 18 points for Eastern in the two games with UT Martin, while Artist has notched 11 points per contest. Finley, Wall and senior center Cathy Dues have scored eight points a game each against the Skyhawks, while Bond is at 7.5 and senior forward Jennifer King has averaged 6.5 points per contest.

Sizemore, a definite All-OVC candidate this season, leads the Lady Colonels in scoring with her 17.3 per game mark for the entire season. King is next at 8.4, followed by Finley at 7.9 and Bond at 7.8. King is the team's top rebounder with her 7.6 per game mark.

Eastern, a team that had won or shared three of the past four OVC regular season crowns before this year, finished the 1998-99 season with its lowest OVC finish (sixth) ever in Inman's 11-year tenure at EKU. The last time EKU finished sixth was the 1987-88 season, the year before Inman took over for former Lady Colonel coach George Cox.