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Eastern Illinois (16-10, 10-5 OVC) vs Austin Peay (16-10, 7-8 OVC)
Friday, Feb. 22 | 1:00 pm
Charleston, Ill. | Lantz Arena
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GAME NOTES:

THE HOME FINALE: The Panthers finish out their time at Lantz with a match up against the Governors of Austin Peay. In the last meeting of the teams, Eastern Illinois handled APSU  with a nearly 30 point victory. In the 76-47 win, Morgan Litwiller put up a career-high 18 points shooting 60% from the field. Karle Pace put up the game-high 19 points and dished out six assists. For the Governors, they couldn't get the ball in the basket; shooting 28% on the entire game. Eastern looks to sweep Austin Peay in the season series for the first time in 8 years. Jennifer Nehls will be recognized for her contributions to EIU before the game.

THE GAME PLAN: When looking at the results of the last game between these two teams only one recommendation comes to mind: More of the same. The Panthers out-rebounded, racked up more assists and obviously scored more points. The Panthers defense shined against the Governors, and even though it doesn't stand out on the box score, APSU's shooting percentage speaks for itself. In the first quarter, EIU held the opposition to only 6 points, while scoring 22 themselves. By securing a big lead early the Panthers were unquestionably more confident throughout the game. The Panthers will look to get out into transition after misses and score before the defense of the Governors can get set.

SCOUTING THE GOVERNORS: The Governors leading scorer, Arielle Gonzalez-Varner, is averaging 10.5 points and 7.6 boards per- game at 6' 1". Austin Peay as a whole does not really have a few players that standout directly. Instead the team as a whole contributes very well to the scoring and rebounding totals. Gonzalez-Varner is their leading rebounder as well, and Ella Sawyer is the teams best passer. Austin Peay is not a good rebounding team, which is great for the Panthers as that has been a weakness this season. The Governors are not a good defensive team either, as they let up the highest field goal percentage to opponents in the OVC. The only issue for EIU is that the Governors live and die by the three ball. They take the seventh most threes in DI, and if they are hot, they could be a problem to play. The Panthers will want to make sure they get hands in the faces of their shooters.

UP NEXT: This next week is the regular season finale for the Panthers. They take on one of the best teams in the conference in Southeast Missouri on Thursday, February 27, and on Saturday the 29th travel to SIUE. Both of these games will be battles as SEMO has been the team to beat this season. SIUE sits at the bottom of the OVC standings, but took EIU to overtime in their last game.