JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Eastern Kentucky will face Jacksonville State on Thursday, the first of four straight road games for the Lady Colonels. EKU (11-9, 6-7 OVC), coming off a near upset of conference leader Southeast Missouri on Saturday, will try to snap a four-game road losing streak. The Gamecocks (10-14, 7-8 OVC) are 3-2 in their last five games. One of those losses was to second place Eastern Illinois in double overtime.

Tip-off between EKU and Jacksonville State is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (ET). The game will be aired live on WEKY 1340 AM in the Richmond area and can be heard worldwide at EKUsports.com.

EKU leads the all-time series with the Gamecocks 10-2 and has won three straight in the series, including a 92-71 victory on Jan. 17 in Richmond. The Lady Colonels are 3-2 in games played in Jacksonville.

In that earlier meeting, Eastern Kentucky shot nearly 60 percent in the second half and 52 percent for the game in route to beating Jacksonville State. Led by senior Ashley Cazee’s 21 points, six players scored in double figures for the Lady Colonels. Cassi Stuart led the Gamecocks with a game-high 22 points.

Crystal Jones contributed 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals for EKU. Shavonne Jones and freshman Cherie White each scored 11 points. Jones added a team-best eight rebounds. Niki Avery chipped in with 10 points to go along with six assists and five steals. LaTanya Stokes also scored 10 points and grabbed six boards.

Eastern Kentucky made 19-of-32 (59.4 percent) second half shots and led by 25 points on multiple occasions. The Lady Colonels made 10 of 21 shots from beyond the arc for 47.6 percent.

Cierra Duhart scored 13 points for the Gamecocks. Jolie Efezokhae added eight points and 10 rebounds. JSU shot 40.7 percent (24-of-59) for the game from the field.

Against Southeast Missouri on Saturday, Cazee’s three-pointer with 5:33 left in the game gave Eastern Kentucky a one-point lead but the Lady Colonels only scored three points the rest of the way and OVC leader Southeast Missouri State escaped with a 72-67 win. EKU shot 48 percent for the game but committed 19 turnovers.

Avery finished with 17 points to lead the Lady Colonels. Cazee scored 15 and grabbed five rebounds. Stokes contributed 12 points and a team-high six rebounds.

Southeast scored the first five points of the second half to go in front by 12, 44-32. However, a 9-0 EKU run got the Lady Colonels back in the game. Eastern remained within striking distance, never trailing by more than eight points. Avery and Cazee knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to turn the five-point deficit into a 64-63 lead with 5:33 remaining the in the game.

Eastern had opportunities to take control of the game, but the Lady Colonels missed two shots and turned it over twice over the next two minutes.

Jacksonville State hasn’t played since beating Tennessee Tech, 69-65, on Feb. 7. Efezokhae recorded her sixth career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Stuart had 13 points and freshmen Duhart and Danielle Beneby each scored 11.

Jacksonville State shot 49 percent for the game and picked up the win despite turning the ball over 23 times. TTU connected on 33.9 percent of its shots from the field and was out-rebounded 40-29.

Efezokhae leads the team with an average of 12.7 points per game. Her average of 6.3 rebounds per game is second best on the squad. Duhart is tied for second among the Gamecocks with an average of 11.5 points per game and leads the team with eight boards per contest. Duhart has made 59.8 percent of her shots from the field and is shooting 64.6 percent against conference teams.

As a team Jacksonville State averages 67.2 points per game. The Gamecocks allow 72.2 points per game. JSU turns the ball over 18.8 times per game, but force 18 turnovers per game.

In support of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s (WBCA) “Think Pink” initiative the Lady Colonels will wear pink t-shirts during warm-ups for games at Jacksonville State on Thursday and Samford on Saturday. The players will also wear pink socks and headbands during the games.

The "Think Pink" initiative is a global, unified effort for the WBCA's nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. The week set aside for this year's initiative is February 8 - 17. The support of this initiative has grown from 120 teams last year to over 900 teams from a variety for sports for 2008.