Issue date: 12/11/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jonathan Kleppinger Kayla Drake has been a consistant scorer for the Colonels all season. She is averaging a team-high 16.9 points per game.

After starting the season 2-0 Eastern proceded to lose four straight. The Colonels finally broke back into the win column Saturday afternnon with a win against the Skyhawks of Tennessee Martin. Kayla Drake also took home her second OVC Freshman of the Week award.

EKU 58, UTM 52
The Colonels are beginning to become a second-half team. They used the last 20 minutes to pull away from a scrappy UT Martin team (1-6, 0-2 OVC) en route to a 58-52 win Saturday in McBrayer Arena. It was Eastern's first conference win of the season. The win also broke a four-game losing skid.

But it didn't come easy.

Sophomore Cherie White had 16 points to lead Eastern (3-4, 1-1 OVC). Junior Colette Cole contributed 13 points. Freshman Kayla Drake and junior Sarah Fraser-Jones had nine points each. Drake also had six rebounds and a season-high six assists. She was named OVC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season.

Eastern fell behind early in the first half, but it was able to mount a successful comeback and took its first lead, 21-19, midway through the first half on a White fast-break layup. The Colonels took a 23-21 lead into halftime.

Eastern went on a couple of runs and at one point led UT Martin by 14 points. At the 13-minute mark, sophomore Nadia Mossong left the game with a bloody nose and did not return.

UT Martin only scored two points in a span of eight minutes as Eastern tried to maintain a comfortable lead midway through the second half.

Trailing big time, the Skyhawks mounted a second-half surge. They rallied and cut the home team's lead to six at the 1:26 mark. But after missing a three-point attempt, they fouled Drake, and she hit two free throws to seal the Colonel victory.

Eastern shot 47 percent from the field in the second half. They shot 41 percent for the game while holding UT Martin to 34-percent shooting.

"After knocking down a shot, we began to feel good about things," head coach Chrissy Roberts said. "It's what we practiced-shooting."

The Colonels had a season-low 14 turnovers. They committed 19 turnovers in the loss to Murray State.

Roberts said the win felt good.

"Martin went on that run in the second half," she said. "We could have easily folded, but we didn't. I'm proud of them."

MSU 73, EKU 61
Eastern almost overcame another poor shooting night and 11 first-half turnovers but fell 73-61 to Murray State (4-3, 1-0 OVC) Thursday, Dec. 4 in McBrayer Arena.

After being down by 12 at halftime, the resilient Colonels (2-4, 0-1 OVC) appeared to finally gain the momentum they needed when sophomore Nadia Mossong and freshman Kayla Drake hit back-to-back three-pointers with 12:38 left in the second half to cut Murray's lead to 42-38.

After a couple of Murray misses and a turnover, sophomore Cherie White got a layup, cutting the deficit to two points with six minutes left. But that would be as close as the Colonels would get. Murray stretched its lead out again, and Eastern cut it to 67-61 with a Drake three-pointer with 28 seconds left, but it was too late.

Eastern head coach Chrissy Roberts said she was impressed with the team's second-half surge.

"We came out and grinded," Roberts said. "We fought in the second half."

Mossong appeared to be relieved by the turn of events.

"[I] just tried to forget about the first half and concentrate on the second," she said. "I guess the shots just fell."

Mossong and Drake were the only Eastern players to score in double figures, with 21 and 11 points, respectively. Mossong had eight rebounds and five assists. White had nine points. She fell to the ground holding her right knee with 10:23 left and went to the locker room but returned a few minutes later.

While Murray knocked down most of their shots, Eastern missed a lot of its field goal attempts in the first half. The Colonels only made eight of 28 from the field and only had six total assists. They finished the game shooting 38 percent. Murray shot 50 percent from the field.

Turnovers plagued the Colonels. They had five in the first five minutes of the game. Murray was able to score 25 points off Eastern's turnovers. Murray was also able to get the foul line more often than Eastern, taking 21 attempts to the Colonels' nine.

Roberts was quick to give both teams credit for their efforts.

"[Murray] is a good team-well-balanced," Roberts said. "They are second in the league, and we competed."

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