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Game Notes

MARTIN, Tenn. – After finishing in ninth place last season and missing the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for only the eighth time in the history of the event, the Eastern Kentucky women’s basketball team will make its return to postseason play on Tuesday. The fifth seeded Lady Colonels will face fourth seeded Tennessee-Martin at 8 p.m. ET.

The game will air live in the Richmond area on WEKY 1340 AM, and can be heard worldwide on EKUSports.com. Winners of Tuesday’s first round tournament games will advance to the OVC final four at Bridgestone Arena (formerly the Sommet Center) in Nashville, Tenn.

The first round match-up between EKU and UT Martin features two teams that were picked ninth and 10th, among 10 teams, respectively in the OVC Preseason Poll.

Eastern Kentucky (12-16, 8-10 OVC) did not qualify for the conference tournament last season after finishing league play with a 4-14 record. Head coach Chrissy Roberts’ team has doubled their number of OVC victories from last season and finished tied for fourth.

Tennessee-Martin (10-18, 8-10 OVC) has also improved dramatically from last season. The 2008-09 Skyhawks won only two games all season and went 0-18 in conference play. UT Martin ended the regular season strong to finish tied for fourth in the OVC. The Skyhawks are 6-3 in their last nine games. Five of the wins have come at home.

EKU has won two tournament titles, 1997 and 2005. The program has qualified for 20 of the 28 tournaments and has an overall tournament record of 13-18. Eastern has made four trips to the tournament finals. The Lady Colonels are 0-1 as the fifth seed, losing at UT Martin in the first round in 1999. Eastern Kentucky has two wins over higher seeded teams. Both came during the 2004 tournament when EKU was the sixth seed. Eastern beat No. 3 Jacksonville State in the first round and No. 2 Tennessee Tech in the semifinals.

Since 1997, when the OVC adopted the current tournament format, the number five seed is 3-10 in the first round, 1-2 in the semifinals and 1-0 in the finals.

Eastern Kentucky will attempt to repeat Austin Peay’s 2008-09 season. The Lady Govs were picked to finish ninth, just like the Lady Colonels this year. APSU entered last season’s tournament as the fifth seed, captured the OVC tournament title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Lady Govs were the first No. 5 seed to win the OVC tournament championship.

EKU freshman Alex Jones has recorded a double-double in two of her last three games. On Monday she was selected as the OVC Freshman of the Week for the fifth time this season. In two games last week the Elizabethtown, Ky., native averaged 12 points and 12 rebounds. She posted her seventh double-double of the season against Murray State on Saturday, finishing with 20 points and 16 boards.

After knocking off Eastern Kentucky last Thursday, Morehead State snapped UT Martin’s three-game winning streak on Saturday by a score of 76-50.

Junior newcomer Alecia Weatherly leads the team in scoring (12.6 ppg) and is second in rebounding (5.9 rpg). She has earned OVC Newcomer of the Week honors nine times this season. Freshman Cali Cupples averages 9.6 points.

As a team, UTM averages 53.3 points per game, which is the lowest in the conference. The Skyhawks have allowed 62.5 points per game this season, but just 60.2 points in OVC games. UT Martin has been out-rebounded by 5.4 boards per game and commits an average of 4.9 more turnovers per game than its opponents.

This is the 42nd meeting between the two teams. EKU leads the all-time series 30-11. EKU had won seven straight in the series before losing to UTM last Thursday. This is the third time these two schools have met in the OVC tournament. EKU won in 1995 and UTM won in 1999.