By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
GEORGETOWN, Ky. – Less than 48 hours after dropping its first Ohio Valley Conference decision, Tennessee Tech women's basketball will take part in its second neutral-site game of the season when it battles Eastern Kentucky at Georgetown College on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT.
GAME MOVED
The Tech-EKU game was supposed to be played at the Colonels' Alumni Coliseum, but had to be moved to Georgetown due to a high school girls' basketball tournament that was also scheduled for this weekend.
A NEW BEGINNING
While the recent loss ended Tech's nine-game winning streak, the Golden Eagles could be poised to go on another run based on their upcoming schedule. If they can take care of business against an Eastern Kentucky team that has endured a rough 2018-19 campaign, they will be back in the Hooper Eblen Center for two games next week, a place they have not lost this year.
PROTECTING THE ROCK
TTU committed only 11 turnovers at Jacksonville State and 10 at Morehead State, which is a marked improvement from its average of 15.1 over the first 16 games of the season.
Within that, Tech's primary ball handlers, Akia Harris and Kentoria Alexander, have combined for 5.4 turnovers per game this season while playing 30.8 minutes and 27.4 minutes per tilt, respectively. Both players reside in the OVC's top 10 for assist-to-turnover ratio.
DIALING LONG DISTANCE
The Golden Eagles made 9 of 23 3-pointers against Morehead State, which improved their OVC-leading season mark to 35.9 percent for the year.
They have been even better during the conference season, as Tech is clipping at 43.4 percent from behind the arc, which leads the league by almost 7 percent.
EASTERN KENTUCKY PROFILE
Eastern Kentucky is one of the five original members that still remain in the Ohio Valley Conference, and has compiled a 318-307 record since the first season of women's basketball, 1977-78.
EKU won its first OVC regular-season title in 1995, and then followed with four more in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2005. The Colonels have also won the league tournament two times, once in '97 and again in '05.
Coach Chrissy Roberts' team has struggled so far in 2018-19, posting a 2-16 record with a 0-7 mark in the conference. The Colonels have yet to post a win over a Division I opponent this year.
Shay Solomon leads the offense at 11.8 points per game, which ranks 16th in the OVC. Abby Wright averaged 11.9 points over the first 13 contests, but has not played in the last five. Bria Bass has lent the strongest support to Solomon of late, going for 10.0 points per game in league play.
Catie Kaifes is the team leader in rebounding both for the season (6.5 per game) and in OVC games (7.7). She's also the only Colonel with more than 10 blocked shots.
Solomon also paces her club in assists with 3.2 per game, followed by Teri Goodlett with 2.9. Those marks rank 12th and 14th in the conference, respectively.
Kaifes is the biggest threat from 3-point range for EKU, ranking ninth in the league with 26 made triples on the year. Of the Colonels who have at least 15 attempts,
Kaifes' percentage from beyond the arc, .313, is second on the team to Mashayla Cecil's .375 (12-of-32).
SERIES NOTES
Tech and Eastern Kentucky have met 94 times since the 1973-74 season, with the Golden Eagles holding a commanding 66-28 advantage in the series.
Former Tech coach Marynell Meadors won 24 of her 25 dates with Eastern Kentucky before departing at the end of the 1985-86 campaign. The lone loss came in Richmond by two points, 80-78, on December 10, 1981.
Bill Worrell continued the trend to start his tenure, prevailing in 8 of his first 9 tries, before EKU recorded back-to-back wins for the first time in the early 1990s.
Worrell's teams would respond with victories in 8 of the next 10 renewals, giving the Tech program a 40-6 series ledger stretching into the 1995-96 season.
Eastern Kentucky would get the best of TTU in 6 of the next 8, before Tech won five more consecutively from 1999 to 2001.
The series has evened out significantly since then, with Tech winning 19 of the last 35 matchups to EKU's 16.
Kim Rosamond has a 1-3 record against EKU, winning her first matchup, 53-51, on Jan. 28, 2017. Led by 14 points from Yaktavia Hickson and 13 from Hannah Goolsby, Tech held off EKU's late rally to edge the Colonels in Cookeville.
The most recent matchup was a tight one as well, as EKU pulled out a two-point victory in Richmond on Jan. 18. After a Jordan Brock 3-pointer tied the game at 53 with five seconds left, Eastern Kentucky's A'Queen Hayes knocked down the game-winning jump shot as time expired.
This will be the 12th time Tech and EKU have battled on a neutral court, with the Golden Eagles recording wins on 8 of the first 11 occasions.
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Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
