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EASTERN ILLINOIS (18-11, 13-5)
vs. Austin Peay (13-17, 12-6) or Murray State (9-20, 5-13)

March 3, 2011 • Noon
Municipal Auditorium • Nashville, Tenn.
Radio: Hit Mix 88.9 FM • TV: None

GAME 30
Eastern Illinois enters the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed and will play the winner of the Austin Peay (#5) and Murray State (#8) game. The APSU/MURRAY game takes place at Noon on Wednesday with the Panthers taking the floor at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium at Noon on Thursday. The winner of that contest will face regular-season champion Tennessee Tech on Friday at Noon. EIU enters the tournament having won nine straight games to improve to 18-11. EIU finished the OVC regular season tied for third with Morehead State with both schools posting a 13-5 conference record.

EASTERN ILLINOIS VERSUS AUSTIN PEAY
Eastern Illinois has faced Austin Peay 33 previous times with the Lady Govs holding a 20-13 series advantage. EIU swept the season series including a 71-66 win in Clarksville on Feb. 24 that clinched a top four seed for the Panthers. EIU is 0-2 against Austin Peay in the OVC Tournament losing to the Lady Govs in the last two OVC Championship Games.

EASTERN ILLINOIS VERSUS MURRAY STATE
Eastern Illinois has faced Murray State 36 previous times with the Racers owning a 23-13 series advantage. The two schools split the regular season series with both clubs winning on their home court. EIU is 0-1 against Murray State in the OVC Tournament having fallen to the Racers in the 2008 OVC Tournament Championship Game played at Municipal Auditorium.

PANTHERS AT MUNICIPAL AND IN THE OVC TOURNEY
Eastern Illinois will be making its second appearance at Municipal Auditorium having reached the OVC Tournament Championship Game in 2008. EIU is 1-1 playing at Municipal. The Panthers are 6-9 overall in OVC Tournaments but have reached the OVC Tournament Championship game in each of the last three seasons.

NIXON, KING EARN ALL-OVC HONORS
Ta'Kenya Nixon and Mariah King were named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference team on Tuesday as the conference awards were released. Nixon was named a first team All-OVC selection while King was a second team honoree. Nixon earned first team All-OVC honors for the second straight season as she led EIU in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals. Nixon ranked in the OVC top ten in all four statistical categories. Nixon averaged 15.7 points per game to rank 5th in the league while leading the OVC at 5.0 assists per game. King turned up her performance over the final three weeks to average 13.7 points per game for the season. She shot 48.1 percent from the field which ranked 5th. King scored 20 or more points in six games this season.

HELD WINS OVC NEWCOMER WEEKLY AWARD
Junior college transfer Hillary Held ended the regular season being named the adidas® OVC Newcomer of the Week. During the Panthers pair of wins at Austin Peay and Tennessee State, Held averaged 10.5 points per game off the bench. Held ended the regular season with a season high 13 points against the Lady Tigers hitting 5-of-5 shots from the floor. Held was 8-of-10 from the floor for the week and shot a team best 51.3 percent for season.

WINNING SEASON CLINCHED
With the Panthers win on Feb. 19 over Murray State, Eastern Illinois guaranteed itself of finishing with a winning record for the fourth straight season. EIU finished the regular-season with an 18-11 record winning nine straight games to end the year. The four straight winning campaigns is the longest for the program since posting 13 straight winning seasons from 1979 through 1991. With two more wins in the OVC Tournament, the Panthers would post 20 wins in three straight seasons. The only other time the EIU program has accomplished that was from 1980-83 when EIU had four straight 20-win seasons under head coach Barbara Wilke. EIU was 89-36 in that four year span.

EASTERN ILLINOIS WIN STREAK NATIONALLY RANKED
Eastern Illinois enters the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a nine game win streak intact as the Panthers have not lost since a Jan. 27 set back against Tennessee Tech. The nine game win streak currently ranks 11th in the NCAA tied with Hampton and Lehigh. Marist currently holds the nation's longest win streak at 23 games as the Red Foxes head into the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament. Stanford is second on the list with 20 wins which includes their Dec. 30 win over Connecticut which ended the Huskies 90 game winning streak.