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Game Notes

RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky’s women’s basketball team will begin Ohio Valley Conference play this week when they host Murray State on Thursday and Tennessee-Martin on Saturday. The Lady Colonels will try to put an end to a three-game losing skid when the defending OVC Tournament champions visit McBrayer Arena on Thursday.

The game against the Racers is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday’s contest versus UT Martin is scheduled to tip at 4 p.m.

Since beginning the season with a pair of wins, Eastern Kentucky has dropped three straight. In their last game, on Nov. 25, the Lady Colonels shot 20.8 percent from the field in a 53-47 loss to Wright State at McBrayer Arena. Freshman Kayla Drake led EKU with 16 points. Drake has led the team in scoring in each of the last four games.

EKU made only 11 of 53 shot attempts and went 5-for-25 from behind the three-point arc. Wright State shot 33.3 percent (17-for-51) from the field, including 1-for-11 from deep.

Junior Colette Cole scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and forced five steals for the Lady Colonels. Sophomore Cherie White added seven points and a career-high nine rebounds.

Drake leads the team and ranks third in the OVC with an average of 19.6 points per game. White (6.6 rpg) and Cole (6.4 rpg) are the team’s leading rebounders.

EKU leads the all-time series against Murray State, 48-25. In the last meeting between the two schools, the Lady Colonels snapped a five-game losing streak to the Racers with a 79-76 win at McBrayer Arena on Feb. 7.

Murray State begins OVC play with a 3-3 record. The Racers scored 100-plus points in wins over Bethel and Mid-Continent and most recently edged Colorado State on its home court by a score of 75-70. MSU has lost to Western Kentucky (95-78), Alabama State and No. 21 Florida State.

Senior Amber Guffey leads the team with an average of 22.2 points per game. She has made 50 percent of her shots from the field and, on average, she scores 7.5 points per game from the free throw line. Senior Ashley Hayes is averaging 19.7 points and a team-best 6.7 rebounds per game. Hayes is the reigning OVC Player of the Year and the 2008-09 OVC Preseason Player of the Year.

UT Martin enters OVC play with a 1-4 record. The Skyhawks will face Morehead State before visiting McBrayer Arena on Saturday. UTM’s lone win came against Southern Illinois Edwardsville by a score of 73-70. The Skyhawks have lost to Texas-Pan American, Lipscomb, Xavier and Winthrop.

Phyllisha Mitchell is averaging a double-double for UTM. The 5-foot-10 senior is contributing 13.6 points and 12.4 boards per game. She has made 46.3 percent of her shots from the field and 85.7 percent from the free throw line.

Only one other Skyhawk, Yalonda Davis (9.4 ppg), averages more than 5.6 points per contest.

The Lady Colonels have a 27-10 record against Tennessee-Martin and have won six of the last seven against the Skyhawks. EKU swept the season series in 2007-08 and is 15-2 against UTM in Richmond.