Wendy Haun
The Lady Colonels will make another attempt to get back on track today in their first home game of the 2009-10 basketball season.
Tipoff against Florida Atlantic will be at 2 p.m. at McBrayer Arena.
It will also be a trip home for Lady Owl coach Chancellor Dugan. Dugan, who played at Eastern Kentucky University from 1978-82, lost the previous matchup 103-92 back in 2001. The Lady Colonels also topped the Lady Owls in 1991.
EKU (0-2) has not tasted victory this season, falling in its exhibition loss to Findlay, as well as to Western Kentucky University and Wright State. The Lady Colonels have struggled early trying to meld their seven new players on the court, as well as making up for the loss of last year’s offensive leader, Kayla Drake.
EKU committed 28 turnovers against WKU and 31 turnovers against Wright State and have not scored 60 points in a game thus far.
The Lady Colonels have also changed their starting lineup several times. A probable lineup for today’s game includes senior Sarah Fraser-Jones, juniors Talisha Davis and Cherie White and freshmen Brittany Coles and Alex Jones.
Coles and Jones have both shown promise early. Coles had her first double-figure scoring performance against the Lady Raiders Thursday, with 13 points, and has averaged 11 points per game early this season, while Jones saw double-figures in rebounding, with 13 boards. Jones’ eight boards per game have led a strong rebounding attack this season, as EKU has outrebounded both of its opponents this season.
The Owls (1-2) have averaged 67 points this season and 40 percent field-goal shooting. EKU leads FAU in the rebounding matchup, 40.5 to 35.7 per game. However, FAU has a big advantage in two key offensive categories: assists and turnovers. They average 13 assists to EKU’s five, while only committing 16 turnovers to the Lady Colonels’ 30.
Florida Atlantic is led in scoring by Brittany Bowe, who is averaging 12 points per game, as well as Jessica Knurick (9.7 ppg) and Lyrell Barfield (nine ppg). Knurick is averaging six boards and Bowe dishes five assists per game.
Today’s game will be the final tuneup before the Lady Colonels will face Towson and Bethune-Cookman next week in the Lady Pirate Invitational, the host tournament of Eastern Carolina in Greenville, N.C.
