Thursday's game against Austin Peay (11-16, 10-6 OVC), featuring $1 general admission, is slated for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. Senior Recognition Day ceremonies honoring EIU's five seniors will precede the 4 p.m. start of the Tennessee State (9-16, 6-10 OVC) game Saturday.
Marie Baker,
Maggie Kloak,
Dominique Sims,
Lauren Sturtevant and
Ashley Thomas will be recognized for their contributions to Panther basketball.
As a class, the seniors have helped lead the Panthers (19-9, 14-2 OVC) to 72 victories during their careers. With two more victories this season, they'll be the winningest class of the program's Division I era (1983-present).
The EIU seniors have already led the team to its first-ever regular-season conference title of any sort. Having clinched the top seed in next week's OVC Tournament, the Panthers are guaranteed of their first national postseason berth since hosting Colorado in the opening round of the 1988 NCAA Tournament.
Eastern's quest to win its first-ever OVC Tournament title and return to the NCAAs begins Tuesday at Lantz Arena. The Panthers' opening-round opponent will be determined by results around the conference this weekend. If TSU finishes as the eighth seed in the tourney, the two teams would play twice in a span of four days. Coincidentally, more than 12 weeks passed between the two regular-season meetings.
Entering the week, the fourth- and 10th-place teams in the conference standings are separated by only 2 ½ games. Only the current top four teams – EIU, Morehead State, APSU and Eastern Kentucky – have clinched OVC Tournament berths.
Having won 24 games a season ago, the Panthers are in search of their first set of consecutive 20-win campaigns as a Division I program. Previously, EIU did win 20-plus games for four straight seasons from 1979-80 through 1982-83.
Austin Peay is the currently the only OVC rival with an active win streak against Eastern. The Lady Govs defeated EIU in the 2009 OVC Tournament championship game and won the first meeting this season, 65-55, Dec. 5 in Clarksville.
Austin Peay is 3-10 away from Clarksville this season, winning at Lipscomb, UT Martin and Murray State. But the Lady Govs played EIU tough in Charleston last season. The Panthers won by 11 but it was a six-point game with 2:15 remaining. APSU's top player, junior Ashley Herring, scored 33 points at Lantz a season ago. That ranks as the highest point total by an opposing player at Lantz Arena during EIU head coach Brady Sallee's six-year tenure.
Herring finished with nine points and nine rebounds in the first meeting this season. Instead it was the scoring of her backcourt mates and the physical play of the APSU post players that burned Eastern. Brooke Faulkner (20) and Whitney Hanley (15) scored a combined 35 points, hitting six of the Lady Govs' seven 3-pointers.
Nicole Jamen finished with a 12-point, 17-rebound double-double, recording the most rebounds by an opposing play against EIU this season. Led by Jamen, APSU is still the only OVC team to outrebound the Panthers in a game.
Eastern has won eight consecutive games against TSU. The Lady Tigers haven't won at Lantz Arena since 2005; only Eastern Kentucky has gone longer without a victory in Charleston. Entering the week, TSU is 1-11 away from its home arena this season, that lone win coming Jan. 23 at Tennessee Tech.
Senior Oby Okafor continues to lead the Lady Tigers in scoring (14.6) and is the top offensive rebounder in the league, collecting 107 of her 189 boards from the O-glass entering the week. But junior Meredith Stafford has stepped up as of late, leading the team in scoring in seven of the last nine games. She is averaging 18 points per game during that stretch.
The Panthers limited TSU to 28 percent shooting from the field in a 13-point win in Nashville to open the conference season the first week of December. Meanwhile, every EIU player that saw action connected on a field goal. Eastern won the rebounding battle, 50-41.
The start time for next week's OVC Tournament opening-round game at Lantz Arena is contingent on whether or not EIU men's basketball is also hosting a tourney game that night. If the EIU men win both of their games this week, they're also likely to host. In the event of an EIU doubleheader, the women's game will tip at 5:30 p.m. with the men's game to follow at 7:30 p.m. If the men have to play on the road next week, the women's game will begin at 7 p.m. All of EIU's OVC Tournament games will be carried live on WEIU-TV.
