Freshman guard Ta’Kenya Nixon and sophomore guard Pilar Walker answered the call of head coach Brady Sallee in Sunday game against Brescia (Ky.). The duo dominated early and often to lead the Panthers to a dominating 110-28 victory Sunday in the team’s home opener.

“I’ve been on Ta’Kenya and Pilar this week and have been telling them that we are going to play the way they play,” Sallee said. “If they’re all over the floor diving after balls then our team is going to feed off of that.”

Nixon led the team in points, scoring 16, and had a share of the lead in steals with five, while Walker led the team in assists, dishing out seven and scored 11 points of her own.

“It was up to us (Walker and I) to set the tone on defense and we just kind of fed off our coaches message that it was on us,” Nixon said.

The Panthers’ (3-3) defense forced 19 turnovers by the Bearcats (4-5) in the first half, and 34 total for the game. The team converted the turnovers into half of its 110 points.

“This game gave us the chance to work on a lot of things, so we got to try out a lot of our defenses,” Sallee said. “All in all, it was a pretty good night.”

Eastern’s offense took advantage of its opportunities inside by scoring 64 points in the paint. Overall, the Panthers shot a season-high 61 percent from the field.

“We wanted to focus on executing and doing the little things right and I think that’s what we came out and did,” said senior guard Ashley Thomas, who scored 13 points.

Nixon said she was impressed by the way the offense played against the Bearcats in that every one of her teammates was running down the floor on fast breaks.

“Usually it’s just one or two people who are hustling and running up and down the floor, but when you have the whole team it makes it easy to give the ball up,” Nixon said.

The Panthers kept the ball under control throughout the game, only committing two turnovers on their way to the win.

The win gave the team a two-game streak, which began Friday night against Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne in a 68-64 win.

Sallee said for one of the first times this season the team was able to get the ball to the rim, which was a major factor in the success of the offense, shooting 55 percent from the field.

Over Thanksgiving break, the Panthers went 3-1, including Sunday’s game. The Panthers defeated Northern Colorado on Nov. 21 by four points, IPFW on Friday by four points and the Bearcats yesterday by 82. Their only loss came against Southern Methodist, 79-52, on Tuesday.

Eastern’s next game is the team’s Ohio Valley Conference opener at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against Tennessee State in Nashville, Tenn. The Tigers are 2-3 this season.

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

Eastern sophomore guard Pilar Walker drives the ball down the court during the game against Brescia (Ky.) Sunday in Lantz Arena.(Audrey Sawyer/The Daily Eastern News)

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