This season, freshman forward Sydney Mitchell is averaging 5.7 points per game in 31 games of play.

Mitchell has been Eastern’s seventh-ranked scorer, while she has also brought in 3.3 rebounds per game.

However, everything changed in the month of February-Mitchell settled in.

During the past month, Mitchell has been averaging 10.3 ppg, making her the fourth highest scorer for the Panthers and one of only four players to average double-figures within the month.

Also, Mitchell has been one of the most efficient scorers this past month, shooting 59 percent from the field.

Mitchell has been on fire at the line, too, working for the best free throw percentage on the team by shooting 85 percent.

“Practices are really helping me, and I feel like I’m getting better every time,” Mitchell said.

In five out of eight of the Panthers’ February games, Mitchell finished the game among Eastern’s top three scorers.

Fragile on full court press

Eastern saw its offense slow down in the second half of Tuesday’s quarterfinal match-up against Tennessee State.

Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said the Tigers’ tough full court press made the Panthers’ offense a little fragile for a short period of time.

While the Tigers played tough defense, they shrank the deficit to 11 points but could not get it any closer.

“The good news is that we won’t play them again, but you (have to) give them credit, because they played hard and had nothing to lose,” Sallee said. “We made a couple mistakes but we held serve.”

Seniors end careers fittingly

Senior guard Dominique Sims had a fitting cap to her regular season career by taking home this week’s Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week.

Sims’ award was just one piece of evidence that made this past weekend a fitting end for the senior class’ regular season careers.

On Saturday, Eastern took down Tennessee State in Lantz Arena on Senior Night.

“It was senior night so we wanted the seniors to go out with something good and let them celebrate for a little bit,” freshman guard Ta’Kenya Nixon said.

Nixon said the game was a tough fight but it was a fun game to play and a good game for the seniors to go out on.

After the win, Eastern was presented with the regular season OVC Championship trophy.

“They deserve to carry that trophy into the locker room,” Sallee said.

OVC quarterfinal wrap-up

Second-seeded Morehead State combined with seventh-seeded Murray State Tuesday to score 185 points in 40 minutes of play.

Morehead State ended up on the good side, winning 95-90, behind the stellar play of junior guard Chynna Bozeman, who scored a career-high 39 points.

The Eagles will play No. 3 Austin Peay on Friday in Nashville, Tenn. after the Govs rumbled past No. 6 Tennessee Tech, 79-61.

Eastern will play No. 4 Tennessee Martin Friday, as the Skyhawks knocked off No. 5 Eastern Kentucky by four points, 51-47.

Tennessee Martin is the team responsible for ending the Panthers’ 13-game win streak last month, and the Skyhawks are the only team to beat Eastern in the New Year.

The game is slated to begin at noon Friday in the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The Morehead State-Austin Peay game will follow Eastern’s game. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944

or admcnamee@eiu.edu

Senior forward Marie Baker leads the team in a celebratory cheer after beating Tennessee State in the first round of the OVC tournament 73-56 Tuesday evening in Lantz Arena. (Amir Prellberg / The Daily Eastern News)

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