RICHMOND, Ky. - After taking its second consecutive Ohio Valley Conference championship, the Eastern Kentucky University women's basketball team is ready to get the new year started.

Picked to finish fourth in the conference this season in a poll by head coaches and sports information directors, Eastern is anxious to prove the voters wrong. Led by junior guard Marla Gearhart, who received pre-season second team all-conference honors, and sophomore Charlotte Sizemore, who captured pre-season honorable mention all-conference honors, the Lady Colonels have a good base of experience to get the job done again this season.

"We have Marla Gearhart back," said Inman, "and a kid who is much improved and who we felt, physically, had a lot of tools as a player in Charlotte Sizemore. She was All-OVC as a freshman and really worked hard in the summer."

Gearhart enters the '98-99 season as the OVC's top-returning three-point shooting threat as she connected on 40.5 percent of her threes last year. She averaged 10.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest last season for EKU. Sizemore returns after averaging 8.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in '97-98. Amidst a freshman-like inconsistency that one would expect from a first-year player, Sizemore showed great promise and potential. She topped the 10-point mark in 11 games and topped the 20-point mark in three. She scored a career-high 25 points against Morehead State at home on February 14^th.

Coach Inman has been cautious, knowing that his team is very young. Eleven of the 15 players on the roster are either freshmen or sophomores.

"I have kids who have not been battle-tested," said Inman. "You can get great players, but if they don't have the experience, they're not tested. I don't have any idea how good they are going to be."

The difficult task for Inman and his staff will be to replace All-American guard Chrissy Roberts and EKU's all-time leading rebounder, Laphelia Doss, both lost to graduation.

"Last year, we had two very class people that got an opportunity to try out in the WNBA," said Inman. "Those two were Chrissy Roberts and Laphelia Doss. Those two kids averaged about 30 points a game for us. You lose the Ohio Valley Conference Player-of-the-Year (Roberts) and one of the best rebounders you've ever coached (Doss) and that's hard to fill."

The Lady Colonels will be tested early as they open at Kansas State and then will play Miami University, Xavier and in the Louisville tournament with Louisville, Nebraska and Kent. Four teams on Eastern's pre-season schedule made post-season appearances in the NCAA Tournament last spring.

"We'll be tested early and often. We play Kansas State, we play in the Louisville tournament where we open with Louisville and then play either Nebraska or Kent State, and we play at Xavier. All of those teams played in the national tournament last season. I figure, if you are going to learn, you might as well learn from the best," he said.

The Lady Colonels will play an exhibition contest next Wednesday, November 11, at home against the Sports Reach Crusaders before getting into regular season action. EKU will open traveling to Kansas State on November 18 before returning to make the home opener on November 21 against Miami University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. for both the Sports Reach and Miami games.
 

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