In Wednesday’s game against Western Michigan, Eastern controlled the Broncos’ leading scorer, Miame Giden, holding her to nine points.

At 4 p.m. Saturday in Lantz Arena, the Panthers (5-4) will face another player with the scoring prowess of Giden, and sophomore guard Pilar Walker’s plan is to stop her.

“Indiana State’s best player is (senior guard) Kelsey Luna, and we want to be able to contain her and play straight up defense against her,” Walker said.

Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said Luna is going to be a tough match-up for Eastern’s defense. The fact that she can shoot the ball well from beyond the arc is going to be a tough aspect of her game to stop, he said.

“Anyone who shoots the ball that well is going to be hard to play against,” Sallee said. “We’re going to have to take her off of the three-point line and that’s tougher to do because of the space that’s involved in defending out there.”

Luna is shooting 41.7 percent from three-point land this season for the Sycamores (7-1); however, she gets a lot of easy points when she’s at the free throw line, as she’s shooting 97.4 percent from the line.

“We can’t let her bolster her average with free points,” Sallee said. “She’s going to make some shots, she’s going to hit some threes, and we can’t think that we are going to shut her out, but we have to keep her in the teens.”

Another player Sallee is impressed with is sophomore center Shannon Thomas, the Sycamores’ second leading scorer and leading shot blocker.

“Thomas has gotten quite a bit better than she was last year. I’ve been very impressed with her progress,” Sallee said. “She’s playing very aggressively down on the low block, and with her size, we’ll be challenged a bit.”

Walker said she agrees that Thomas will be a challenge, but said the success in the game all comes down to executing the Panthers’ game plan.

“We just need to run our offense. I don’t think anyone can stop our offense,” Walker said. “We don’t care what they know about us, we’re still going to run our offense and still going to get in the post and do what we have to do.”

Sallee said he doesn’t look too far into the fact that Thomas can block shots because the times she misses a block, she’s putting herself out of position to get a possible rebound.

“I think at the end of the game, it’s going to even out with those she doesn’t get and those she does,” Sallee said.

Sallee said Indiana State plays a good match-up zone on defense and has an offense featuring players who can hit shots from two or three different positions.

In order to be successful, Sallee said the team has to give even more effort than they gave in the win against Western Michigan on Wednesday.

“The level of talent we are going up against is a lot better and we’re going to have to step up to the plate,” Sallee said. “The fact that the two schools are 40 minutes away means that there’s going to be some added intensity, and we have to step up to that and meet that challenge.”

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944

or admcnamee@eiu.edu.

Eastern senior forward Maggie Kloak moves around her opponent to drive the ball to the basket during the game against Western Michigan Wednesday night at Lantz Arena. Kloak and the Panthers 5-4 this season. (Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

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