It’s finally arrived. The big day.

The Eastern women’s basketball team is hosting the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament against Tennessee State at 7 tonight at Lantz Arena.

But the women’s team will need everything to go right if they want to advance past Tuesday’s game to the OVC semifinals and possibly the NCAA Tournament.

First and foremost, Eastern must play sound defense and rebound.

It’s something they’ve focused on all year and tonight should be no exception.

Junior guard Ellen Canale will be the spark. She limits the other teams’ top guards to single digits and is fourth on the team in rebounding.

And although the Plymouth, Mich., native wears a black brace on her left wrist, she still needs to play through the pain.

It will be up to Canale to stop TSU junior guard Kendra Appling, who scored 50 points -one shy of the OVC record -, in a game earlier this season.

Rebounding has been key for the Panthers this season.

The Panthers average 36.7 rebounds in conference play, and their conference opponents only average 32.8 rebounds.

“We really take a lot of pride in our rebounding,” Galligan said.

Eastern must also run its two offenses (high-low and motion) effectively if they want to win. The Panthers did this Saturday night against Samford. Eastern shot 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from beyond the arc against the Bulldogs.

Eastern’s offense of late has come from Galligan and sophomore forward Maggie Kloak.

“(Galligan and Kloak) maybe two of the top five post players in the league, and they play on the same team,” Samford head coach Mike Morris said.

Kloak and Galligan combined for 32 points on Saturday night and 31 points on Thursday night against Jacksonville State.

But Eastern’s two post players can’t carry the team. The Panthers need scoring from each player including junior forward Lindsey Kluempers who has scored just 11 points in the past three home games.

Kluempers averages five points a game but will need to play a more significant role in order for the Panthers to win.

Two of Eastern’s other key players should also make a difference in Tuesday’s game.

Sophomore forward Dominique Sims has the skill and athleticism of a guard on offense but plays with the tenacity and presence of a forward on defense.

“I thought she was a big factor,” Morris said of Sims’ game on Saturday night. “It seemed like every time she got an offensive rebound, something good happened.”

Morehead State coach Mike Bradbury said earlier this season he knew Sims was going to make a difference, he just didn’t know how much.

Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said Sims is what the team had been missing for the past couple of seasons.

“We knew she was a good player when we got her,” Sallee said. “She wants to do as much as she can do. She brings a different dynamic to this team: (something) we were missing. It plugs a hole. To her credit, she’s worked into our system.”

And red-shirt sophomore guard Megan Edwards helps control the offense, including limiting the amount of turnovers. Eastern has turned the ball over 550 times this season. It’s an improvement from last season when the Panthers had 581 turnovers.

Eastern needs a lot to go right in the postseason, but champions do the little things like play defense, rebound and take care of the ball.

And with the OVC tournament starting today, doing the little things can help the Panthers get an NCAA Tournament berth.