Losing the rebounding battle, 59-31, was the biggest pitfall for the women’s basketball team in their opening season match-up against No. 3 Ohio State (1-0), according to senior forward Maggie Kloak.

“We let them get some big offensive rebounds,” Kloak said. “We can’t get beat that bad on the boards and expect to win a game.”

The Panthers gave up 20 offensive rebounds in their 91-68 loss on Friday in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

The Buckeyes’ junior forward Jantel Lavender played a key role in defeating the Panthers on the glass, as she raked in 13 rebounds while adding 24 points.

“A lot of it was just sheer size but with players like that, when you breakdown they’re going to take advantage of it and they’re going to exploit it,” head coach Brady Sallee said.

While Lavender led the Buckeyes attack, freshman guard Kelsey Wyss led the way for Eastern (0-1) scoring 12 points off the bench. Sallee said he was impressed with how aggressive the freshman was in her first collegiate game.

“She worked very well off of the ball and we set some good screens for her, and she was nailing shots,” Sallee said.

Kloak, like Sallee, was pleasantly surprised by the performance of Wyss as it was just her first game, and against a big team. However, Wyss said she approached it like any other game.

“We just went out there and played like it was any other game and did what coach had been teaching us all along,” Wyss said.

Another freshman guard, Ta’Kenya Nixon was second in scoring on the team with 10 points. She led the team in assists with five.

“Ta’Kenya Nixon was really, really good tonight,” Sallee said. “I thought she belonged on the floor with those kids. I think she was as athletic of a guard as there was out there tonight.”

The Panthers overcame a 19-0 run in the first half by the Buckeyes after the game was tied 8-8, with an 11-0 run of their own to follow.

“We were expecting Ohio State to go on runs, we were expecting them to hit shots, and that’s what they did,” Kloak said. “We just had to keep playing our game and doing what we do and that got us back in the game in the first half.”

Eastern was only down 10 points, 40-30 at the end of the first half; however, at the beginning of the second half the Buckeyes came out as strong as ever, according to Kloak.

“I think in the second half, their size kind of paid off for them and they hurt us on the boards big time,” Sallee said.

Ohio State went on a 10-point run early in the second half, but the Panthers couldn’t get it back as they were unable to string together another run.

Nine different Panthers scored, eight of which scored more than six points. Eastern shot 40 percent from the field, but only 32 percent from beyond the arc.

Eastern drops into the consolation of the WNIT where they’ll play University of Texas El Paso Friday at 5 p.m. in Little Rock, Arkansas. UTEP lost their first round game 66-54 to Florida Gulf Coast.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944 or admcnamee@eiu.edu.