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NASHVILLE – Playing for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, Eastern Illinois women's basketball takes on Austin Peay at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

 

WEIU-TV will be picking up a Comcast Sports South feed and telecasting the game live.

 

Austin Peay (16-15) upset top-seeded Murray State, 90-84, Friday in the first semifinal of the day. The Panthers advanced with a 64-48 victory against Tennessee State.

 

Eastern (24-8) has won 11 of its last 12 games. Murray is the only team to defeat EIU since a Jan. 10 loss, 58-51, at Southeast Missouri.

 

The Panthers have won five straight against the Lady Govs dating back to a 2007 win Clarksville. However, EIU and APSU have never met in the OVC Tournament.

 

With a win, the Panthers would punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988 and post their 25th victory of the year, tying a program record.

 

Each of APSU's staring five players – guards Brooke Faulkner, Whitney Hanley and Ashley Herring and forwards April Thomas and Nicole Jamen – have scored in double-figures in both OVC Tournament games. Austin Peay scored a season-high 90 points on Friday in its upset win.

 

The Lady Govs are in the OVC Tournament championship game for the first time since the last of their four straight tourney titles from 2001-04. Picked ninth in the OVC Preseason poll, Austin Peay has surprised many around the league and reached the title game after being the only team – men's or women's – to win on the road in the first round Tuesday.

 

The Panthers won 81-50 in Charleston on Dec. 6 and 69-56 in Clarksville on Feb. 26. Similar to the length of the time between the two EIU-TSU meetings, essentially 12 weeks passed between the two regular-season meetings between Eastern and Austin Peay. Ashley Herring's 33 points in Charleston in the first meeting still stands as the high scoring total by an opposing player against EIU this season.

The Panthers are playing in the OVC Tournament championship game for the second year in a row. Last season, EIU upset top-seeded Southeast Missouri in the semifinals but lost to Murray State in the tourney title game.

More Info: Contact Ben Turner, Asst. SID