The Eastern women’s basketball team is undefeated in 2010 with 13 straight wins.

So far this season, freshman guard Ta’Kenya Nixon is one of the main ingredients in the perfect meal of success.

Nixon is a versatile player who has gobbled up her opponents one by one.

“She has that motor that can kick into another gear that a lot of other players can’t keep up with,” head coach Brady Sallee said. “I think her will to win comes up when she shows up to watch film outside of practice, the way she competes in practice, her willingness to come into the gym to shoot the ball extra.”

This season, Nixon has won the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week award three times and been named OVC Freshman of the Week five times. Three of those times she was named Player and Freshman of the Week, including this week.

Despite the accolades, Nixon said she learns a little more each game she plays and the records continue to fall as she became the first player since former player Megan Casad in 2004 to record a triple-double Thursday, with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

“I mean (the records) are nice because we’re winning,” Nixon said. “If we weren’t winning, I wouldn’t be too excited.”

Not only did the triple-double set a new mark for the program, it was also historic for Sallee.

“Without doing all my fact-finding, I think this was the first one I have ever coached, even as an assistant,” Sallee said. “So, in 17 years it is the first one I have been involved in, well, on the good side (my team) of it.”

Nixon said she didn’t know about her statistics against Morehead State until a reporter told her about it but said that it was awesome to accomplish the feat in the big game that it was.

Additionally, Nixon played a full 40 minutes against Morehead without an overtime period, becoming the first Panther to do so since December 2006.

While all three categories of her triple-double are important to helping the team succeed, she takes the greatest joy in getting an assist.

“I just like it, I mean it just makes me feel good that I can not only score but I can dish the ball to a player, one of my teammates,” Nixon said.

Two days after her triple-double, she broke the freshman assists record previously held by Megan Casad, who recorded 124 in the 2003-2004 season.

Nixon currently has 130 assists with at least five games left to play. Also, she only needs 12 more assists to join the top-10 highest assist totals in a season.

While Nixon has established herself as an offensive threat, she can also get the job done on the defensive side as she leads the Ohio Valley Conference in steals per game with 2.2.

Along with her triple-double, Nixon has had three double-doubles this season, her biggest being against Eastern Kentucky when she posted 16 points and 17 rebounds; yet, she still wasn’t satisfied.

“She came out of that wanting to get even better,” Sallee said. “Not many players get 16 points and 17 rebounds and walk out and think I need to do better. That’s probably the part of her I enjoy coaching the most.”

“For her, I think the sky is the limit. As long as she is willing to work, I think she will just continue to get better everyday,” Sallee said.

Dion Martorano can be reached at 581-7944 or dmmartorano@eiu.edu.

Freshmen guard Ta’Kenya Nixon drives to the basket against Eastern Kentucky Saturday evening in Lantz Arena. (Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

(more…)