One day at a time. One win at a time.

This is one of the mantras the women’s basketball team has this season, and coaches and players alike are on the same page.

Though they agree there is room to look at the big picture, head coach Brady Sallee said he knows they cannot afford to get ahead of themselves.

“You can’t really explain it,” Sallee said. “There’s just a feeling that everything is more important.”

Assistant coach Jackie Moore elaborated that the Panthers cannot get ahead of themselves.

“We take it one day at a time,” she said. “Every day, we work to improve on Eastern Illinois basketball.”

The Panthers begin the Ohio Valley Conference schedule at 5 p.m. this Thursday against Tennessee Tech in Lantz Arena.

In eight non-conference games this season, the Panthers are 1-7, receiving their first win of the season 70-52 against Loyola of Chicago on Dec. 1.

Junior forward Lindsey Kluempers said she does not think the Panthers will more intensely focusing on their opponents but still recognizes the importance of the start of conference.

“It’s just a little bit different,” she said. “This is our conference games. These games are going to decide the rest of our season.”

Sallee said as conference play nears, the team will change practices.

He said practices will be shorter and will focus less on drills.

Moore said she thought conference time was more exciting.

“This is conference time, and this decides if we’re going to make it to an NCAA tournament,” she said.

She said their main objective in practice was to work on their mistakes.

Sallee said right now, the most important thing is the start a winning streak. But to do so, he said the Panthers will need to take it one game at a time.

“There’s two important things we have to do to be successful,” he said. “It’s always important to start conference play strong, and it’s always great to string a few wins together. I mean, getting five to six wins in a row, and that might make the difference in placing in this conference.”

But Sallee said he is first looking to make it two victories in a row. The next few games will be at home, also, which will also be a factor to consider, he said.

Kluempers said when it came to conference games, she was not going to worry about the records of the teams, but she would worry about who will next show up on the court.

Moore echoed her statement and said no matter the record of the opposing team, Eastern will play its type of basketball.

While the Panthers say they are more concerned with their own play, Sallee said he has been looking at other teams in the OVC.

“It’s really hard to judge anything right now,” he said. “Records are a bit skewed.”

Sallee said the scheduling of the schools non-conference records are all different. He said Eastern purposely chose a tougher, non-conference schedule to best challenge and prepare his team.

Sallee said another team he thinks has done well and has prepared the non-conference in a similar fashion is Austin Peay.

“Austin Peay has played some really good basketball and schools,” he said. “They are really challenging themselves.”

Kluempers says she thinks the team has benefited from tougher scheduling, despite not having a winning non-conference record.

She also said she has not paid much attention to the other OVC teams records and does not think the other players have focused on it either.

“I mean, there may be a few girls that have went online and looked at the other team’s records, but we’re just focused on practicing everyday and our next opponent,” Kluempers said.