Spring Break
Women's Basketball: Level-headed approach to rematch
Team looks to avenge earlier loss to SEMO
Collin Whitchurch/Assistant Sports Editor
Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: Sports
|
"We're very excited about it," the senior guard said about the chance to avenge their Jan. 10 loss. "We have to be very level headed about it. It's just another game and we have to play our hearts out."
The Panthers welcome the Redhawks at 3 p.m. Saturday in Lantz Arena. Southeast Missouri handed Eastern one of its two Ohio Valley Conference losses with a 58-51 victory in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
In that game, the Redhawks used a late 6-0 run to pull off the win after overcoming a nine-point, second-half deficit.
Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said he thinks his team has learned from their mistakes in the first meeting.
"I think the biggest thing that came out of it is we saw how much turnovers and a lack of boxing out could hurt us," said Sallee, who saw his team commit 21 turnovers in the Jan. 10 loss. "From that point on we've had some struggles there but the kids have made a commitment to getting better, and that's half the battle."
The Redhawks enter Saturday's contest tied for fifth place in the OVC with a 7-4 record (12-10 overall). They're riding a three-game winning streak, including a 73-45 victory against Harris-Stowe College Wednesday in Cape Girardeau.
Sallee said at this point of the season every game is huge, and a victory against Southeast Missouri is no bigger than a victory against any team in the OVC.
"We just have to take a business-as-usual approach," he said. "The thing we have to understand is that irregardless of Saturday, we still have six games left in the league and every game from here on out is big."
Senior guard Tarina Nixon leads three Redhawks who average in double-figures in scoring with 13.3 points per game. Senior guard Sonya Daugherty and senior forward Crysta Glenn average 12 and 10.3 points per game, respectively.
Daugherty led Southeast Missouri offensively in the team's first match up with 19 points while Glenn added 10 with 14 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive end.
Junior forward Maggie Kloak, who was held scoreless for the first time all season in Wednesday's victory against Illinois-Chicago, paced the Panthers offensively with 14 points in the Jan. 10 game.
Saturday's contest caps off a four-game home stand for the Panthers and they are 3-0 on the stand thus far. The Panthers will travel to Morehead, Ky., to take on the Eagles next Thursday at 4:15 p.m.
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@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