Facing a 2-4 Tennessee State team seems of minimal importance considering the teams the Eastern women’s basketball team has faced thus far in the 2008 season.

Hard fought road games against the likes of Illinois, Bradley and Cincinnati, as well as home games against Miami (Ohio) and Southern Methodist – both NCAA Tournament qualifiers from a year ago – seem much bigger compared to facing a Lady Tigers’ squad that finished 13-17 a year ago.

But in reality, tonight’s game is much bigger than any other game to date simply because it is the start of Ohio Valley Conference play.

A win on Thursday is huge for the Panthers for the obvious reasons.

Winning conference games are always big because the ultimate goal is to win the OVC and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

But it’s big for one other reason as well.

Momentum.

Momentum can go a long way in sports, specifically in basketball where teams feed off of home crowds and game-to-game stretches of success.

It happened last year when, after starting off the season with a 1-7 record.

The Panthers began OVC play with a 66-64 victory against Tennessee Tech.

That victory was the second game of a six-game win streak for Eastern, and the Panthers went on to win 10 of their next 12 games after beating the Golden Eagles.

This year the Panthers did not start out quite as poorly as they did a year ago.

The opening-night victory against Miami (Ohio) was important, again for momentum, but back-to-back losses to Illinois and Bradley, two formidable opponents, brought the team back down to earth after the high they experienced with the win against the Redhawks.

It’s tough to tell early on what type of Panthers’ team this squad is. Thus far they have beaten the teams they are capable of beating and played everyone else close and competitive.

Tonight’s game should provide a good barometer of where the team stands in the OVC.

A blowout victory will bring confidence that they are the team to beat and the team they were predicted to be in the preseason conference poll.

A win in any shape or form will provide momentum going forward through the season. A loss will bring about questions about which direction this team is heading. But it’s more likely that the former, rather than the latter, happens.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.