Coming out of a timeout, the Eastern women’s basketball team converted a big play in the second half that head coach Brady Sallee said was a key play.

Without a lot of time left on the shot clock, Ta’Kenya Nixon, sophomore guard, drove the ball to the middle, jumped up and lobbed the ball to Mariah King, sophomore forward. King laid the ball into the hoop.

That play showed the coaches and players on the bench how a team wins games, as Eastern won 79-58 over Austin Peay Saturday.

“You come out of a time out and execute like that,” Sallee said. “That just deflates another team. I thought we had a lot of those kinds of possessions.”

While the offense was performing well, Sallee said the defense was playing just well enough to win.

“We were just tough enough to hold who I think is a pretty good offensive team to under 60 points,” Sallee said.

Team’s goal to play hard

Going into Saturday’s game, the Panthers knew Austin Peay was a big rival that has beaten them in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game the last two years.

Sydney Mitchell, sophomore forward, said the team had a goal to play hard against its rivals.

“Coach was telling us we have to work hard against this team because they are a pretty tough team, and you saw that they are,” Mitchell said.

The Panthers built the lead, but Peay never gave up as it mounted many comeback attempts.

“They played hard and weren’t letting up so we just kept going,” Mitchell said.

Turnovers favor Panthers

Austin Peay committed 22 turnovers Saturday, compared to just 10 from the Panthers. Eastern turned 22 Peay turnovers into 22 points.

The plus-12 margin was huge for the Panthers, Sallee said.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a plus-12 margin in turnovers,” Sallee said. “You just look at the amount of possessions we had because we were able to take care of the ball.”

The Panthers scored 79 points in the game. Sallee said any time the Panthers don’t commit a lot of turnovers they will score a lot of points.

Held defends Rayner

Junior forward Hillary Held had nine points, three rebounds and two blocks off the bench.

When King was in foul trouble, Held came in and played against Jasmine Rayner, one of Peay’s best players.

Rayner had eight points and 13 rebounds, but Held played valuable minutes, Sallee said.

The fact that Held played well excites Sallee with the possibilities of a dominant group of forwards.

“Now I feel like if we can build on that, we have a three headed monster down there,” Sallee said.

Although Held was successful, she said it wasn’t easy going up against Rayner.

“She’s a handful,” Held said.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944

or admcnamee@eiu.edu.

Chantelle Pressley, a junior forward, goes up for the shot against Austin Peay in Lantz Arena Saturday afternoon. The Panthers won the game 79-58. (Audrey Sawyer

(more…)