At one point during the Panthers 93-89 exhibition victory Sunday against Chicago Odyssey, there were seven players from Eastern on the floor.

And there wasn’t a violation.

That’s because two Eastern alums that play for the Odyssey joined the five current Panthers on the floor.

Katie Meyers (2004 graduate) and Renee Schaul (2001) returned to the place they once called home. Meyers had 10 points and nine rebounds, while Schaul had 15 points and seven assists.

Each player left on a high note during their four-year career. Meyers is ranked seventh all-time in school history with 59 blocks, while Schaul is seventh in three-point field goals made (88).

Meyers’ senior year signaled the end of one era and the dawning of a new regime. After her graduation, the Panthers fired head coach Linda Wunder (36-101 overall record in five years), bringing in current head coach Brady Sallee (20-36 through two years).

After suffering through a great deal of losses in her four years, Meyers sees the Eastern program as one that has turned the corner in a positive direction.

“I definitely like what (Sallee’s) done,” Meyers said. “He’s definitely turned the program around. There’s a completely different energy to the team. Everything is fast-paced. You can see the girls are excited. It’s a different emotion across the board.”

Although Meyers classified Sunday’s game as being a good experience, she said it was still strange being the visitors on the Lantz Arena scoreboard.

“We’re a bunch of old retirees that just got whooped,” she said. “But, if I’m going to get beat, I’d like it to be by Eastern Illinois.”

Growing pains

Coming into the season, Sallee stressed that there will be plenty of ups and downs with Jessica Huffman.

Staying true to that statement, the freshman guard certainly had her share of positive and negative moments in Sunday’s victory.

The positives came in the form of 14 points and six assists. The negatives were the five turnovers she committed along with a 5 for 13 shooting performance in 22 minutes off the bench.

In her limited time on the floor, she has shown that she can be an explosive player with big-play potential. But, she seems to lack the natural point guard instincts, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in Sallee’s eyes.

“I always prefer my point guards not to play the typical point guard role by passing first, shoot second,” Sallee said. “But she’s gotta know when she can do her thing and when we need her more disciplined.”

While Huffman gave herself a “low B, high C” grade in her first collegiate game, she agreed with Sallee in how she has to be more careful with turnovers.

“He talked to me about it afterwards,” Huffman said. “I just have to take care of the ball and the rest will take care of itself.”

It’s not that Sallee is inexperienced in handling freshman point guards.

Last season, Megan Edwards played the position with varying results. She finished with 110 assists and 124 turnovers in 29 games.

In many ways, Sallee says there are similarities between Huffman and Edwards.

“Coming out of high school, (Edwards) wasn’t the quickest, fastest, couldn’t jump the highest, wasn’t the strongest, but she did know how to score. (Huffman) is the same way,” he said.

Injury report

Sophomore guard Kara Kramer has missed most of the preseason with a stress fracture in her foot.

Kramer, who averaged 2.4 points per game in 29 games last season, is listed as day-to-day.