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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's basketball opens its much-anticipated 2008-09 season with a home and away weekend against a pair of 20-win teams a year ago, as Miami (Ohio) visits Lantz Arena Friday and the Panthers make the short trip north Sunday for a rematch with the University of Illinois.

 

Friday's game at Lantz Arena is slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off and will be televised live on WEIU-TV. Sunday's contest in Champaign is scheduled for a noon tip at the Assembly Hall.

 

The Panthers have not played Miami since December 1988 and have not hosted the RedHawks since 1984. Eastern opened its 2007-08 campaign with a home date against Illinois, but has not played at the Assembly Hall since December 2001.

 

Friday's season opener will feature the preseason favorites in the Ohio Valley Conference (EIU) taking on the 2008 Mid-American Conference Tournament champions (Miami). The Redhawks are coming off a 23-11 campaign and were picked second in the East Division of the MAC preseason poll.

 

Miami lost its top scorer of a season ago, but returns point guard Jenna Schone. The 2008 Second Team All-MAC selection has started all 92 games she has played in as a RedHawk. She broke Miami single-season records for assists (175) and 3-pointers (84) last season.

 

Miami head coach Maria Fantanarosa, who begins her 11th season, also played for the RedHawks in the late '80s and was a senior the last time EIU and MU squared off. Eastern head coach Brady Sallee saw plenty of Fantanarosa's teams while he was an assistant at Miami's MAC rival, Kent State, from 1996-2002.

 

Like EIU, Illinois (20-15 in 2007-08) also reached the championship game of its conference tournament game last season, losing to Purdue on a buzzer beater. The Fighting Illini defeated Drake in the second round of the WNIT before losing at Marquette.

 

Illinois has just nine players on its roster this season. However, second year head coach Jolette Law signed the nation's second-ranked recruiting class this week. Until those reinforcements arrive next fall, the Illini will rely heavily on upperclassmen Jenna Smith, Lacey Simpson and Chelsea Gordon this season.

 

Smith enjoyed a fantastic sophomore season last year, averaging 18.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game en route to First Team All-Big Ten honors. She posted a 16-point, 19-rebound in UI's 86-56 victory at Lantz Arena.

 

The Panthers will need to do a better job of rebounding the ball against their neighbors to the north. Illinois enjoyed a 46-24 advantage on the glass 25-8 edge in second-chance points against EIU last season.

The Illini were picked sixth by the media and seventh by the coaches in the Big Ten preseason poll.

More Info: Contact Ben Turner, Asst. SID