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Coverage at IPFW: Live Stats | Listen

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CHARLESTON, Ill. – After taking on IPFW in Fort Wayne, Ind., Friday evening for the first time since December 2001, Eastern Illinois women's basketball finally plays its first game of the season at Lantz Arena Sunday afternoon against Brescia (Ky.).

 

Friday's game at IPFW (1-2) is slated for a 6 p.m. (CST) tipoff. The home opener Sunday is set to begin at 4 p.m.

 

The Panthers (1-3) have not play an official game in Lantz since defeating Tennessee Tech in the opening round of the 2009 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. This season's lone scheduled exhibition game was canceled in the wake of assistant coach Jackie Moore's unexpected death on Nov. 4.

 

Eastern's home opener is scheduled to be game No. 6 of the year. That's the longest EIU has gone before playing at home since the 1985-86 campaign. The home opener was game No. 7 that season. Among the OVC's 11 teams, only Tennessee Tech will go longer before playing at home. The Golden Eagles open their home schedule Monday, Nov. 30, also playing their sixth game of the year.

 

The Panthers have won seven straight home games against nonconference opponents and nine consecutive non-OVC games at Lantz overall. The two-game difference accounts for a pair of OVC Tournament opening round victories the last two seasons. Indiana State was the last nonconference team to win at Lantz, on Nov. 29, 2007.

 

Kelsey Wyss returns home for Friday night's game at IPFW. The freshman grew up in nearby Hoagland, Ind., and attended high school in Fort Wayne. Dominique Sims scored a season-high 18 points, matching the most points of the year by a Panther, in her return to her native Texas Tuesday at SMU.

 

Eastern was a 78-60 winner in its only other game in Fort Wayne. Prior to EIU's victory in Charleston last season, the Panthers and IPFW had not played since January 2003.

 

The game in Lantz a year ago featured one of the most drastic momentum swings of the season. The Mastodons connected on five 3-pointers in the first seven and a half minutes and led by as many as nine. But EIU closed the first half on a 21-5 run and led by as many as 42 in the second half en route to a blowout victory.

 

IPFW welcomed back all five starters from last year's team. The Mastodons are once again shooting 3-pointers early and often, making 25 triples in their first three games and connecting at a 41 percent clip from behind the arc. Stephanie Rosado leads her team in scoring (14.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.3 rpg). She and IPFW's other starting forward, 6-foot-3 Eva Ivanova, will both shoot the 3-ball.

 

Chelsey Jackson led the way with 19 points in Charleston last season. The Mastodons were 11-of-31 from long range in the game, but only 4-of-16 in the second half.

 

Five Panthers scored in double-figures in last year's game, including Maggie Kloak (14 points), Sims (12) and Ashley Thomas (11), who all shot the ball efficiently.

 

Bresica (4-4) is an NAIA Division II program located in Owensboro, Ky., that competes in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Bearcats traveled to Charleston last year for an exhibition game.

 

EIU associate head coach Lee Buchanan was the leader of the Brescia program from 1986-98. He guided the Bearcats to three consecutive NAIA DII Tournament appearances from 1995-97. With 230 wins as head coach, Buchanan is the program's all-time wins leader.

 

Brescia played Western Kentucky and UT Martin in exhibition games earlier this month.

Eastern's four freshmen – Mariah King, Sydney Mitchell, Ta'Kenya Nixon and Wyss – are set to make their Lantz Arena debuts Sunday.