Women's Basketball: Team aims for consistency
Kevin Murphy/Sports Editor
Issue date: 1/13/09 Section: Sports
|
Fortunately for the Panthers, the team sports a 4-1 record in the league, which is tied with Murray State atop the league.
But the Panthers are trying to be more consistent with their offense.
"We can play a lot of different ways," said Eastern head coach Brady Sallee. "In the course of an 18-game conference season, you're just going to have games you're going to have to gut out and rough out."
And Eastern's four league wins have come in different styles.
The Panthers held off Tennessee State on Dec. 4, 83-45.
They also beat Austin Peay on Dec. 6, 81-70.
"We have to adapt to how teams are guarding us," Sallee said. "We can't just get stubborn and always do the same thing. We have to understand if they're switching, if they're sagging, if they're pressuring, and we've got answers for all of that. But we've just got to execute and do the right thing."
The Panthers beat Jacksonville State 71-58 on the road on Jan. 3, and rallied to beat Tennessee Tech on Jan. 5, 50-46. The Panthers blew a first-half lead on Saturday against Southeast Missouri and lost 58-51.
"One of our problems right now is being consistent," said Eastern senior guard Ellen Canale. "We're either blowing people out or playing games to two points. We're playing really good first-half basketball, and then we're coming out a little bit lackadaisical."
Kluempers returns to lineup
Eastern senior forward Lindsey Kluempers rarely misses a game.
That changed when she injured her left pinkie against Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne on Dec. 13.
Kluempers' team-long streaks of consecutive games started (43) and consecutive games played (101) ended against Indiana State.
Kluempers only missed two games, and returned on Jan. 3 against Jacksonville State. She finished with two rebounds, an assist, and one point She returned to the starting lineup on Jan. 5 against Tennessee Tech.
"It was just so much fun getting back into the flow of things," she said. "It was terrible just having to sit out. I just hate it."
Kluempers had two key offensive rebounds in the Tech game that helped seal an Eastern victory. She finished with six rebounds, two assists, two points and had one block.
Kluempers said it has been rough trying to shoot, but said while she would like to blame it on her pinkie, she is just in a bit of a rut.
"The finger doesn't affect it too much," she said. "It's just getting my confidence back."
In Saturday's 58-51 loss at Southeast Missouri, which dropped the team's record to 10-6, Kluempers had five points and an assist.
Home win streak at stake
The Panthers have won 13 games in a row at Lantz Arena.
As of Monday, the Panthers' 13-game home winning streak ranked eighth in the country.
"It's been real exciting," Canale said. "We've had a lot of fans."
The Panthers will test that record when they play Eastern Kentucky on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Lantz Arena.
The 13-game streak has matched the program's Division I era (1983-present) record.
The Panthers also won 13 consecutive home games from Jan. 1987 through Jan. 1988.
The Panthers beat Eastern Kentucky twice last season, but both were overtime wins.
Fellow OVC member Morehead State has the 12th-best winning steak in the country with 12 wins in a row.
Canale said the team loves the home support and playing in front of that crowd.
"We attribute our win streak to our fans, and hope they keeping coming back," Canale said.
After Thursday's contest, the Panthers will take on conference foe Morehead State on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Lantz Arena
Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or at kjmurphy@eiu.edu.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story