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Game Notes

RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky’s women’s basketball team will return to game action on Saturday when they host Houston Baptist University. Tip-off at McBrayer Arena is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Lady Colonels haven’t played since earning their first Ohio Valley Conference victory of the season against UT Martin last Saturday.

The game against HBU will be the first meeting between the two programs.

In its last game, Eastern Kentucky trailed by one early in the second half before out-scoring Tennessee-Martin 17-2 over an eight minute time span en route to a 58-52 win at McBrayer Arena. The win snapped a four-game losing skid for EKU.

Cherie White led the Lady Colonels (3-4, 1-1 OVC) with 16 points. Colette Cole finished with 13 points. Sarah Fraser-Jones scored nine points and grabbed five boards.

After totaling 27 turnovers three times in a four game stretch, EKU drastically lowered its turnovers in the last two games. The Lady Colonels turned the ball over 27 times against Wright State, then made 19 turnovers against Murray State before committing only 14 turnovers on Saturday against UTM.

Freshman Kayla Drake was selected Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week on Monday after averaging 10 points, 4.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game in two conference contests last week. The weekly award was the second for Drake, who also garnered OVC Freshman and Player of the Week honors on Nov. 17.

The point guard showed her versatility in two conference games last week. She was EKU’s second leading scorer with 11 points against Murray State. She also dished out three assists. In Eastern’s win over UT Martin, Drake left the bulk of the scoring to her teammates, finishing with nine points. However, she added a career-high six assists and a team-best six rebounds. In addition, in 33 minutes on the court, the freshman committed only two turnovers and forced three steals.

Houston Baptist (2-6) is in its second year of provisional membership with the NCAA. HBU was a member of the NAIA from 1990 to 2007. The school was a member of the NCAA from 1967 to 1990.

The HBU women’s basketball team advanced to back-to-back NAIA Final Fours in 2004 and 2005. In their final season of NAIA membership, the Huskies went 27-7 and advanced to the NAIA Elite Eight in 2007.

This season, the Huskies’ two wins have come over non-Division I schools. HBU knocked off Huston-Tillotson 84-65 in its season opener and also beat Wiley College 71-59. Houston Baptist has lost four straight including three straight road games before falling to Prairie View A&M at home on Saturday.

Guards Raquel Jones and Fallon Thomas led the Huskies with 11 points each in the 69-57 loss to Prairie View. HBU turned the ball over 28 times.

Center Megan Morris is the team’s leading scorer at 10.3 points per game. Jelela Simpson and Cindee Wright each average 9.3 points per game. Simpson is the team’s leading rebounder at 7.6 boards per contest.