After a weekend of intense conference action, and going up against a clearly inferior opponent, the prospects of a letdown were out there.

After two consecutive games against conference rivals, including a particularly fierce 81-70 victory against Austin Peay, one had to wonder if the Eastern women’s basketball team would lose its focus a little bit while facing SIU Edwardsville – a 1-8 squad that had already lost to two Ohio Valley Conference teams.

That wasn’t the case.

The Panthers overcame a less-than-spectacular start to run away with a 76-58 victory against the Cougars on Wednesday night at Lantz Arena.

The impressive aspect of the game was not the margin of victory or the performance of senior forward Rachel Galligan (21 points on 10-of-14 shooting), while both were stellar.

Instead, it was the fact that the intensity the team displayed in shutting down Tennessee State and Austin Peay was just as prominent in a game with far less on the line.

The Panthers played the kind of game one expects to see in a conference championship. Eastern fought for rebounds, dove for loose balls, and stuck to the Cougars on defense. Senior guard Ellen Canale led the charge on the defensive end, coming up with three steals to hold the Cougars’ three starting guards to a combined 8-of-27 shooting.

“We did not come out in the first half with very much intensity and it showed,” Canale said. “In the second half, we came out and we made it our goal (to play with intensity), and I think we played a lot better and a lot more intense – a lot more aggressive.”

Galligan, senior forward Lindsey Kluempers and junior foward Maggie Kloak combined to shut down the Cougars’ leading scorer, senior forward Jenny Wuest.

Wuest entered the game averaging 14.4 points and 7.4 rebounds. She finished Wednesday night with just four points and three rebounds in 19 minutes played.

Saturday, the Panthers play another less-than-spectacular opponent in the 2-8 Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne Mastadons (3 p.m. at Lantz Arena). If Wednesday night’s game is any indication, the Panthers should come out victorious yet again.

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