The Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) will begin today at 4 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio, where Eastern will play the No. 3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.

In head coach Brady Sallee’s five years at Eastern, the Panthers have faced three ranked opponents, the last being Louisville, who was ranked 14th in the 2006-2007 season. Eastern lost 93-75.

“Fortunately, we have a coach that likes setting up big games for us,” senior forward Maggie Kloak said. “Who wouldn’t want to come out and play Ohio State their first game? (The team) love this stuff.”

The Panthers will be up against a Buckeye team that features junior center Jantel Lavender, who was voted as a Preseason First-Team All-American, and sophomore guard Samantha Prahalis, who also received votes to be on the preseason team.

“The Lavender kid can really play. She’s big; she can really get up and down the floor,” Sallee said. “The Prahalis kid is a coach’s dream at that position. She can really play guard, she plays her tail off and plays hard.”

Prahalis was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season and helped lead the Buckeyes to a conference championship, a conference tournament championship and a spot in the Sweet 16 before bowing out to Stanford.

Sallee said the first thing the Panthers will have to do to defend Lavender is guard her in transition and to no let her get any freebees. He said she’s going get her points, but that the defense can’t let her get them easily.

In terms of guarding Prahalis, Sallee said the defense has to keep her from penetrating and kicking the ball out; however, Sallee said he admits she’s a special player.

“Both of them are very, very good and we have our hands full, but we can’t get too caught up in that,” Sallee said. “We’ve got to concentrate a little more on who we are and doing what we do.”

The game will be the first of the season for each team. For the Panthers, playing a prestigious program, in an exciting environment for their first game is nerve racking.

“I think it’s a little bit of nervousness excitement. I can’t even sleep,” senior guard Dominique Sims said. “I wake up in the morning and I’m thinking about the game and I’m thinking about it before I go to sleep and I’m just like, ‘Okay, think about something else.'”

Sims said she thinks that as long as her and the rest of her teammates play their game, that they’ll be fine and be able to keep the pressure on the Buckeyes, despite being an underdog.

“Honestly, I like being the underdog,” Sims said. “I want them to take us for granted, so that when we come in there, and the first five minutes we’re punching them in the face then they’re going to have to pick up their game.”

The game will be the first collegiate game for the freshmen class, but Kloak said that getting a win is going to take a collaborative effort.

The Panthers will face a Buckeye roster that suspended two of its seniors, including guard Shavelle Little, a two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The last, and only, time the Panthers played a Top 25 team to open up the season, was in the first game of the 2005-2006 season when they played Southern California, the No. 22 ranked team that year.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944

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Eastern senior forward Maggie Kloak goes up for a shot against Eastern freshman forward Mariah King during practice on Nov. 2 in Lantz Arena. Kloak and the Panthers begin their season against today against No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, as part of th

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