Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: Sports

Eastern senior guard Megan Edwards has been the leader of Eastern's offense. Edwards leads the team with 88 assists and only 55 turnovers. Last week Edwards had 23 points and finished a perfect 8-of-8 from the field. Edwards also had three rebounds, four assists and a steal last week. (Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

Eastern senior guard Megan Edwards has been the "quarterback" of the Eastern women's basketball team's offense.

Although Edwards missed the 2006-07 season with a knee injury against Missouri-Saint Louis, she has been helpful with the team's turnover problems and has also been able to knock down shots.

In the past two games against Southeast Missouri and Illinois-Chicago, Edwards has proven she is not only a passer, but a scorer as well. She finished last week with 23 points, three rebounds, four assists and one steal.

"Basically, she is the little engine that makes us go," said Eastern head coach Brady Sallee. "When she is playing at a high level, distributing the basketball, we are at our best."

Edwards and the Panthers average 17.8 turnovers a game, but that is an improvement considering Eastern has averaged 18.7, 20 and 18.4 turnovers a game in the past three seasons. Edwards was out for the season when the Panthers averaged 20 turnovers a game.

"It gave me a totally different aspect of seeing the game," she said. "It sort of gave me a coaches' perspective on the game, and I began to notice different things about the offense, that I wouldn't have been able to see from being on the court."

This season, Edwards has 88 assists and only 56 turnovers. She only had four assists and three turnovers in the past week, but taking care of the basketball has spread to the entire team.

In the last three games, the Panthers have averaged only 11.3 turnovers a game while averaging 16.7 assists per game.

Her play on the court this season has also helped the Panthers establish a record of 17-7, 10-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference and a 19-game winning streak at Lantz Arena.

Edwards is averaging 7.7 points this season, to go along with averaging 3.3 assists. She is shooting 94 percent from the free-throw line. Edwards has also started all 24 games this season, while averaging a team high 31.6 minutes per game.

Sallee said Edwards is the type of player who makes the team better when she is on the court.

"Clearly we have good players on our team," Sallee said. "But I think that you can go back and notice the production levels during the year she was hurt and the numbers we have put up during the past two seasons with her, and there really isn't even a comparison."

Edwards was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field as well as going 5-of-5 from 3-point range against Southeast Missouri. She also was 2-of-2 from the field against Illinois-Chicago.

Edwards runs an offense that knows when to take shots in the system. The Panthers are ranked 28th in the nation in field goal percentage (44.5).

"(Edwards) brings a lot of basketball knowledge to the team, as well as bringing a lot of leadership," said Eastern senior forward Rachel Galligan. "She really plays a good field general for our team. When it comes time to getting the offense moving, she really does a good job."

Galligan said Edwards is the best point guard she has played with and that Edwards' willingness to distribute the basketball has allowed the rest of the team to develop their game.

But while Edwards and the rest of the Panthers have set the NCAA Tournament as their goal, they are patient.

"We are really taking it one game at a time," Edwards said. "We are going to go down to Kentucky and try and pick up some big wins, that will help us get closer to our goal."


Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or at jnschneider@eiu.edu.

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