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CHARLESTON, Ill. – As Eastern Illinois women's basketball opens play in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), making its first national postseason appearance since 1988, the Panthers make their first trip to Milwaukee since 1994 to take on Marquette Thursday at 7 p.m.

 

The game is set to be played at the Al McGuire Center. A 4,000-seat arena is the main venue in the on-campus facility that opened in 2003.

 

The winner of the EIU-Marquette game advances to play the winner of the Illinois-Western Kentucky game, which is slated for Friday evening in Bowling Green, Ky. The second round game would be played March 21-23.

 

With a victory Thursday, Eastern (23-10) would match last year's win total for the highest of the program's Division I era (1983-present). The Panthers opened their season in the Preseason WNIT. Of the 16 teams that participated in the Preseason WNIT, four are also closing out their campaigns in the postseason event: EIU, Florida Gulf Coast, New Mexico and North Carolina A&T.

 

Eastern is representing the Ohio Valley Conference in the WNIT, earning the league's automatic bid to the expanded 64-team field after winning the regular-season conference title. The Panthers are one of three OVC teams playing in national postseason tournament but the only squad in the WNIT.

 

While EIU is making its first appearance in the postseason WNIT, Marquette (16-15) is making its seventh. The Golden Eagles won the WNIT in 2008 and reached the championship game in 2006. Illinois State eliminated MU in the third round last season.

 

Marquette was one of five Big East Conference teams selected for the WNIT field. The Golden Eagles earned at an at-large bid after finishing tied for 10th in the in rough-and-tumble 16-team Big East and defeating Villanova in the opening round of the conference tournament.

 

Marquette posted nine of its 16 victories during the nonconference portion of its schedule, defeating fellow WNIT qualifiers Illinois and Creighton. The Golden Eagles played 19 teams that qualified for a national postseason tournament this season, including 11 opponents that are in the NCAA Tournament.

 

Conversely, EIU played five teams that are still playing in national postseason tournaments, including two NCAA Tournament qualifiers.

 

An overtime victory at home against Cincinnati in the regular-season finale and the Big East Tournament win against Villanova pushed the Golden Eagles over the .500 mark and made them eligible for a WNIT at-large bid. Teams must be above .500 to receive an at-large bid to the WNIT.

 

Point guard Angel Robinson represented MU on the All-Big East Second Team for the second year in a row. She leads the team in scoring (11.9 ppg), assists (4.5 apg) and steals (66) while being the only player to start every game. Post player Sarina Simmons was a Big East All-Freshman Team selection after averaging 6.8 points per game and leading MU with 24 blocked shots.

 

Eastern's last game in the state of Wisconsin was a January 2006 loss at the University of Wisconsin. The aforementioned last trip to Milwaukee in 1994 was for a Mid-Continent Conference game at UW-Milwaukee. The Panthers hosted Marquette at Lantz Arena in the only other meeting of the all-time series, an EIU win in December 1986.