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EASTERN ILLINOIS (3-6) AT UNF HOLIDAY CLASSIC
Dec. 20 @ 1 pm vs. Georgia Southern (3-7)
Dec. 21 @ 12:30 pm vs. Air Force (1-7)
UNF Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.
Radio: Hit Mix 88.9 FM on Friday 
Radio: Internet only The Odyssey on Saturday (click Odyssey link on WEIU Listen Page)


GAME 10 & 11
Eastern Illinois will head into the Holiday Break playing its final two non-conference games of the year.  The Panthers will be competing in the Hampton Inn Oceanfront Holiday Classic hosted by North Florida.  The tournament has pre-determined match-ups with EIU facing Georgia Southern on Friday afternoon and Air Force on Saturday afternoon.  Following that, EIU will open Ohio Valley Conference play on Saturday, Dec. 28 against Tennessee State.  The Panthers lost on the road at Southern Illinois, 66-60, on Monday night playing their first game since Dec. 4.  EIU is now 1-4 on the road and 0-1 at neutral sites.

CRUNK HAS CAREER HIGH GAME
Senior Jordyne Crunk had a career scoring night in the Panthers loss at Southern Illinois on Monday.  Crunk scored 23 points making 9-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-6 from 3-point range.  It marked the second time this season and third time in her career that Crunk has scored 20 or more points in a game.  She added a pair of free throws as she currently ranks 50th in the NCAA in free throw percentage at 84.2 percent.  In addition to her scoring Crunk matched her career high with six rebounds and added three assists.  She has averaged five assists per game over the Panthers last six games.

OROSZOVA MOVING UP BLOCKS CHART
Sabina Oroszova added two more blocks to her career total on Monday at Southern Illinois as she leads the Ohio Valley Conference with 20 blocks this season.  She ranks 40th in the nation and EIU ranks 24th in the nation with 5.3 blocks per game.  For her career Oroszova has now blocked 103 shots and ranks fifth on the EIU career list.  She needs six more blocked shots to catch Leah Aldrich-Franklin in fourth place.

UP NEXT
Saturday - December 28 vs. Tennessee State (Lantz Arena) - 4:15 pm

LAST TIME OUT
Foul trouble plagued Eastern Illinois on Monday night as two starters played with four fouls and one key reserve fouled out during the Panthers 66-60 loss at Southern Illinois.  The loss overshadowed a career night for senior Jordyne Crunk as she scored 23 points and pulled down six rebounds.  EIU trailed by one at the half and shot 56 percent in the second half.  SIU pulled down ten offensive rebounds and shot 33 percent from 3-point range.

SCOUTING GEORGIA SOUTHERN & AIR FORCE
Eastern Illinois will play Georgia Southern and Air Force in the final non-conference games of the season at the Hampton Inn Oceanfront Holiday Classic this weekend hosted by North Florida.  Georgia Southern enters the weekend 3-7 overall including 1-1 in the Southern Conference.  The Eagles are led by a pair of double figure scorers in Anna Claire Knight (15.5 ppg) and MiMi DuBose (10.4 ppg).  They have a pair of players both averaging 9.6 rebounds per game.  Air Force enters the weekend with a 1-7 record, the lone win coming against North Dakota State in early December.  Cherae Medina (11.7 ppg) and Jimi Blagwosky (11 ppg) lead the Falcons in scoring as both have double figure 3-pointers this season.  The team is balanced in rebounding with Medina the leader at 4.3 per game.

SERIES INFORMATION
This will be the first meeting for Eastern Illinois against either school (Georgia Southern or Air Force) as the Panthers get set to end the non-conference portion of their schedule.  Eastern Illinois does have previous meetings with members of both schools current conferences.  The Panthers are 3-6 all-time against members of the Southern Conference having played UNC Greensboro and Samford.  EIU is 1-4 all-time against Mountain West Conference members having played Colorado State and Hawai'i.  EIU is 1-1 in previous meetings with United States Military Academies going 1-1 against Navy.

IN THE PAINT
• Katlyn Payne scored in double figures for the ninth game this season with 11 points at Southern Illinois.  Payne is second on the Panthers team with 13.7 points per game.  She leads EIU with 24 made 3-pointers which ranks 46th in the nation in 3-pointers made per game.  Payne has 91 career 3-pointers and needs ten more to break into the EIU career top ten.

• Arnisha Thomas scored six points off the bench on Monday at Southern Illinois as she continues to lead the Panthers in bench production at 5.3 points per game.  Over the past three games Thomas is shooting 60 percent from the floor.  After not scoring in the first two games of the season, she has scored in seven straight with a high of 12 points at Saint Louis.

• This will be EIU's second in-season tournament this year.  The Panthers were 0-2 at the UMKC Plaza Lights Classic over Thanksgiving weekend.  EIU will play a pair of neutral site games this weekend in Jacksonville, Fla.

• EIU continues to look for production from its freshmen class.  Three of those class members played at Southern Illinois with Erica Brown, Georgia Danos and Kaycee Kallenberger all seeing five minutes or less of playing time.  The four members of the freshmen class are averaging a combined 0.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.

EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH DEBBIE BLACK
Debbie Black enters his first season as head coach of the Eastern Illinois women's basketball team.  Black was hired May 16, 2013 to take over the program following a long career as an assistant coach, most recently at Ohio State.  While with the Buckeyes program Black helped coach the team to seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances including six Big Ten Conference Championships.  Black has been part of 34 consecutive winning basketball seasons both as a player and a coach.  She began her playing career at Saint Joseph's University helping the Hawks make four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.  After graduation in 1988, she played professionally overseas in Tasmania (1989-96).  She played in the WNBA from 1999-2005 earning WNBA Defensive Player of the Year honors.  Nicknamed "The Pest" Black is the only women's professional player to record a quadruple double with 10 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists and 10 steals in a game.

PANTHERS PICKED 3RD IN OVC WEST
After losing four seniors to graduation, Eastern Illinois was picked to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference West Division during the preseason poll.  UT Martin was the preseason favorite with 22 first place votes.  SIU Edwardsville was selected second with EIU, Murray State, Southeast Missouri and Austin Peay rounding out the West Division standings.  Tennessee Tech was a narrow selection as the preseason favorite in the East Division with Belmont second and Eastern Kentucky third.

WNBA EXPERIENCE
Eastern Illinois brings a wealth of professional basketball experience to its coaching staff this season.  Head coach Debbie Black is a veteran of the WNBA having won the League's Defensive Player of the Year Award and All-Star honors during her seven year career.  Assistant coach Sheri Sam is a ten year WNBA veteran finishing her career in 2009.  She won two WNBA Championships and was an WBNA All-Star during her career.  Associate head coach Kim Foley played professional basketball in Australia where she won WNBL Defensive Player of the Year honors and teamed with Black to help the team win a National Championship.  Assistant coach Gwen Burton was an assistant coach in the now-defunct National Women's Basketball League.

OVC GROWS, SPLITS TO DIVISIONS
The Ohio Valley Conference will play its second season with divisions for men's and women's basketball.  The Panthers will play in the West Division which includes Austin Peay, Murray State, SIU Edwardsville, Southeast Missouri and UT Martin.  The OVC East Division includes Belmont, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech.  The division winners and next remaining top six teams advance to the OVC Tournament in Nashville to end the season.  The division winners earn the number one and number seeds in the field, with a bye to the semifinal round.

OVC DIGITAL NETWORK
Basketball fans can watch each Eastern Illinois home game and all OVC road games for free online this year on the OVC Digital Network streaming platform.  Fans can view games by visiting - www.ovcdigitalnetwork.com