JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Eastern Kentucky’s women’s basketball team will finish the non-conference portion of its schedule this weekend when the Lady Colonels play two games at the Saint Peter’s College Holiday Tournament in Jersey City, N.J. EKU (6-3, 2-2 OVC) will open tournament play against High Point University (5-5) on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Saint Peter’s College will play Pennsylvania in the other first round game at 7:30 p.m. The consolation game is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Sunday. The first round winners will play for the tournament championship on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

In its last game, Eastern Kentucky overcame a 12-point first half deficit and led by three with 13 seconds left in regulation, but Eastern Illinois got a game-tying three-pointer to force overtime and won 91-86 on Dec. 21 at McBrayer Arena. A win would have lifted the Lady Colonels into a four-way tie for first place atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings. The Panthers won for the fifth straight time and now sit alone in first place in the OVC.

EKU trailed by 12 points with 12 seconds left in the first half. However, Niki Avery knocked down a three-pointer three seconds before the end of the period and the Lady Colonels scored the first 10 points of the second half to move in front 41-40 with 17:16 remaining in the game.

Eastern never trailed the rest of the second half. The Lady Colonels led by five on four occasions but couldn’t pull away.

Eastern Illinois had the ball and was down by one with less than a minute to go but the Panthers turned it over with 44 seconds showing on the clock. After letting the shot clock wind down, Ashley Cazee drove to the basket, did a spin move but fell to the court. The senior kept her dribble got back to her feet and laid it in on the right side to put the Lady Colonels in front 74-71 with only 22 seconds to go.

The seventh tie of the second half came when Megan Edwards hit a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.

Cazee led the Lady Colonels with 23 points and seven rebounds. She also had five assists and six steals. Avery made four of six three-point attempts and finished with 15 points. LaTanya Stokes scored EKU’s first four points in overtime and finished with 12.

EIU shot 52.2 percent from the field for the game and made 36-of-40 free throws for 90 percent. Eastern Kentucky attempted 27 more shots, and made five more than the Panthers. The Lady Colonels were out –scored by 16 points at the charity stripe, going 20-of-28 from the line.

Cazee has scored 20 or more points in two of Eastern’s last three games. Cazee finished with 20 points against Austin Peay and 23 points against Eastern Illinois. She has grabbed seven rebounds in each of the Lady Colonels’ last two games. Over her last three games, Cazee is averaging 17.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.7 assists per contest. During that span she has made 14 of 15 free throw attempts.

High Point is off to a 5-5 start to its season. Like the Lady Colonels, the Panthers’ last game went to overtime. HPU beat Elon, 77-71, in overtime on Dec. 17.

The Panthers also have wins this season over King College, Livingtone College and Campbell University. HPU’s only road win of the season came at East Carolina.

High Point is led in scoring by freshman guard Jurica Hargraves who averages 12.5 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. She has made 38.3 percent of her shots from the field and 36.4 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Hargraves has done her damage off the bench, having not started a game this season.

Fellow freshman guard LaTeisha Dean is the team’s second leading scorer at 11.9 points per game. Senior forward Amber Manuel leads the squad with an average of 7.4 rebounds per game.

Hargraves came off the bench to lead all players with 23 points in HPU’s overtime win against Elon. Manuel added 12 points and six rebounds.

The Panthers only made one shot in the extra period, but they made 12 of 14 free throw attempts in the five-minute overtime frame.

Penn is 3-6 this season. The Quakers will play at Temple tonight before this weekend’s tournament at Saint Peter’s. The hosts are 6-4 overall. SPC is coming off an 81-35 loss to Syracuse, a team the Lady Colonels lost to earlier in the season by a score of 88-67.