CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Eastern Kentucky will face Ohio Valley Conference leader Southeast Missouri State on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. (ET), at the Show Me Center. EKU (13-10, 8-8 OVC) beat Tennessee-Martin, 68-53, on Thursday to even its league record. The Redhawks (20-6, 15-2 OVC) have won 11 straight.

The game will be aired live on WEKY 1340 AM in the Richmond area and can be heard worldwide at EKUsports.com.

SEMO beat Eastern by five 14 days ago in Richmond but the Lady Colonels lead the all-time series 25-9. The Redhawks have won five straight in the series, but all five have been decided by six points or less.

In that earlier meeting, Ashley 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 Southeast Missouri State escaped with a 72-67 win on Feb. 9 at McBrayer Arena. EKU shot 48 percent for the game but committed 19 turnovers.

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

Sonya Daugherty led SEMO with a game-high 18 points. Crysta Glenn posted a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Tarina Nixon had 14 points and dished out six assists. The team’s top scorer and rebounder, Missy Whitney, did not play in the game.

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. 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. A lay-up by Daugherty with 4:18 to go gave SEMO the lead for good. After the back-to-back three-pointers by Avery and Cazee, Eastern Kentucky didn’t score again until Crystal Jones made a trey with 19 seconds remaining.

The Redhawks shot 41.9 percent (26-of-62) for the game and only turned the ball over 10 times.

SEMO reached the 20-win plateau on Wednesday with a home win over Austin Peay.

The Redhawks’ two OVC losses came at home, the league opener against Tennessee State and an early January contest against Murray State.

On Wednesday, senior guard Ashley Lovelady and Glenn each scored 14 points to help Southeast Missouri begin a season-ending four game homestand with a 67-47 win over Austin Peay. Glenn also grabbed eight rebounds.

Nixon and Whitney added 11 and 10 points respectively.

The Redhawks shot 52.4 percent in the second half which allowed SEMO to take control of a three-point game at halftime. APSU made just five shots in the second half and shot 17.9 percent.

Southeast wins with defense. They rank among the top three in the conference in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense. SEMO allows just 57.1 points per game. Southeast has only scored more than 70 points twice in its last 14 games, but have held opponents under 60 points 11 times in the last 14 games.

Whitney leads the team in scoring (14.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg). The 6-foot-2 forward/center has made 43.7 percent of her shots from the field, 38.8 percent from three-point land and 78.5 percent from the free throw line. Daugherty averages 12.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Nixon averages 10.6 points and leads the team with 33 three-pointers.