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RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team opens a crucial three-game homestand by hosting Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech this weekend at McBrayer Arena. With five games remaining in the regular season, the Lady Colonels are a half game out of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference East Division.

Eastern will face Jacksonville State on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and Tennessee Tech on Monday at 7:00 p.m.

EKU will be hosting its annual “Think Pink” breast cancer awareness game against Tennessee Tech on Monday.  The Lady Colonels will wear commemorative warm-up shirts and pink shoe laces as their way of honoring all of those who have fought and continue to fight their battle with breast cancer.  Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game and those that do will be eligible to win prizes from the EKU Bookstore, Papa John’s and Chick-fil-A.

EKU (14-8, 8-3 OVC) enters the weekend a half game behind division leader Belmont (15-10, 9-3 OVC) and tied with Tennessee Tech (14-10, 8-3 OVC). The Lady Colonels play the Golden Eagles twice in the final five games of the regular season.

Eastern has won nine of its last 12 games, including a 66-64 victory at in-state rival Morehead State last Saturday. Senior LaRa`e Allen made her first start of the season in that game, and went for a career-high 18 points while grabbing nine boards and swatting four shots.

The Lady Colonels are currently ranked 35th in the country in blocked shots per game (4.9) and 22nd in the country in field goal percentage defense (34.6).

Senior Alex Jones grabbed a team-high 14 boards at Morehead State on Saturday and is now 30 rebounds shy of passing Sandra Mukes for No. 2 on EKU’s career rebounds list. She is also 54 rebounds shy of becoming just the second Lady Colonel ever to score 1,000 career points and grab 1,000 career rebounds. The only other EKU player to do it was Laphelia Doss (1994-98).

Jacksonville State (0-24, 0-12 OVC) arrives in Richmond winless on the season. The Gamecocks’ most recent loss came at TTU, 79-52, last Saturday. Miranda Cantrell (7.7 points-per-game) and Marikate Gardler (7.0 points-per-game) pace the JSU offense. 

EKU is 15-6 all-time against JSU and defeated the Gamecocks, 69-51, in Jacksonville on Jan. 19. Jones posted a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) in that game, while junior Marie Carpenter went for a team-high 15 points.

TTU comes into the weekend having won three straight, including a 67-62 victory at Belmont on Feb. 2. Diamond Henderson is averaging 15.7 points-per-game for the Lady Colonels while Jala Harris is contributing 13.3 points-per-game.

TTU leads the all-time series between the two schools, 61-21. The Golden Eagles have won five straight over the Lady Colonels dating back to 2010.

Following this weekend’s games, EKU continues its homestand by hosting Austin Peay at McBrayer Arena on Saturday, Feb. 23. Tip is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.