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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's basketball opens Ohio Valley Conference play and begins a four-game homestand this weekend when Tennessee State and Austin Peay visit Lantz Arena.

 

Thursday's game against TSU (2-4) is slated for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off in the opener of an EIU basketball doubleheader. The Panthers take on APSU (2-4) Saturday at 3 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on WEIU-TV. The Lady Govs play at Southeast Missouri Thursday.

 

Eastern (4-3) returns to non-conference play next week, as SIU Edwardsville and IPFW travel to Charleston. The Panthers have won nine straight games at Lantz Arena, a streak that dates back to the overtime win against Eastern Kentucky on Jan. 12.

 

Due to a quirk in the conference schedule, EIU will not play Tennessee State and Austin Peay again until the final weekend of the regular season (Feb. 26 and 28).

 

Eastern went 5-0 against TSU and APSU last year, defeating the Lady Tigers twice at Lantz Arena. By defeating the Lady Govs in Clarksville and Charleston, the Panthers swept the season series for the first time since the 1997-98 campaign.

 

Rachel Galligan and Ashley Thomas played a pair of great games against TSU and APSU last year. Against Tennessee State, Galligan posted a 25-point, 11-rebound double in the OVC Tournament win and a 30-point, five-block, five-steal performance in the victory in Nashville. Her best performance against APSU came in Clarksville, where she scored 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting.

 

Thomas, meanwhile, enjoyed a memorable performance against both opponents at Lantz Arena. With Galligan injured at this time last year, she recorded 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench and connected on the biggest basket of the game (in the final minute) of an eight-point victory against TSU. Two months later vs. APSU, Thomas put on one of the most impressive shooting performances in the recent history of Lantz. She scored 19 points thanks in part to an EIU record 5-of-5 showing from 3-point land.

 

Tennessee State received three first-place votes and was tabbed fourth in the OVC preseason poll. However, the Lady Tigers were dealt a blow during the preseason when Oby Okafor, a 2008 Second Team All-OVC performer, was lost for the year with a torn Achilles tendon.

 

Tennessee State is still very dangerous with senior guard Kendra Appling leading the way. The 2008 First Team All-OVC selection scored 50 points in a home win against Jacksonville State last season. In the OVC Tournament game at Lantz, she scored 14 straight TSU points during a first-half stretch.

 

Tiffany Jackson is the other Lady Tiger to watch. She has stepped up in Okafor's absence and is averaging 14.8 points per game this season. She went for a game-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the December 2007 meeting at Lantz.

 

Austin Peay's freshman point guard Emily Pollock entered the week leading the league in assists per game (6.0). Ashley Herring and April Thomas both present a challenge as versatile athletic players. Off the bench, Whitney Hanley and Salem Richardson have both made seven 3-pointers in the first six games.

 

The Lady Govs were picked ninth in the OVC preseason poll after failing to qualify for the conference tournament field last season for just the second time during EIU's time as a league member (1997-present).

 

BACK-TO-BACK BLOWOUT WINS: Eastern won its first two games in Cincinnati by a combined 45 points, defeating Savannah State by 22 and Mississippi Valley State by 23. It marked the first time in head coach Brady Sallee's five-year tenure that the Panthers have won consecutive games by 20-plus points. The 1995 season marked the last time an EIU team accomplished the feat, blowing out Chicago State (77-52) and Troy State (87-65) in back-to-back games.

MORE ASSISTS THAN TURNOVERS: The Panthers recorded a season-high 22 assists and a season-low 15 turnovers in the victory against Mississippi Valley State. Eastern had more assists than turnovers on nine occasions last season. Only the +15 showing at UT Martin (21 assists, 5 turnovers) was better than the +7 EIU posted vs. MVSU. The 22 assists, meanwhile, were the most for the Panthers since also recording 22 in the double-overtime loss to Jacksonville State on Feb. 1, 2007.

More Info: Contact Ben Turner, Asst. SID