Where do we start?

Well, I certainly did not predict this one. I thought Eastern had better odds to be raising the trophy Saturday than losing to Austin Peay Thursday. I told one of our photographers Thursday before the game: “I think you’ll be taking pictures of a championship team.”

Sorry to those who consider that a jinx, but the Panthers were on a nine-game winning streak going into Thursday. They had beaten Tennessee-Martin, the eventual winner, earlier in the season. The wind seemed to be blowing in the right direction.

Before Eastern even knew they were playing Austin Peay Thursday, Panther fans were saying they wanted to play the Governors. And yet, after an action packed game, Austin Peay head coach Carrie Daniels is still giving all of us, especially Eastern head coach Brady Sallee, nightmares.

Also giving the Panthers nightmares: the “body slam call.”

Eastern trailed 74-70 late in the game. Junior forward Chantelle Pressley grabbed a rebound. As Pressley came to the ground, Austin Peay forward Jasmine Rayner went to grab the ball firmly in Pressley’s hands. Pressley then appeared to be body slammed to the ground by Rayner, who was trying to rip the ball from the junior’s grasp.

The referee with the best view called a foul on Rayner. This would have sent Pressley to the free throw line for two shots, in a four-point game.

The referee made the call. All is well, right? Wrong. Referee Erica Bradley ran into the action, coming far from where the action was, and called a jump ball. possession arrow: Austin Peay.

This triggered our live blogger, Doug Graham, to write “What the hell” on the DEN’s blog during the game.

Austin Peay got the ball and was able to win the game. We cannot blame the loss on the one call though. The most disappointing part of the loss was Eastern’s lack of ability to box out and rebound the ball.

Austin Peay had 14 offensive rebounds in the game – 10 in the second half, alone. This led to a total of 18 second-chance points in the game.

This was completely uncharacteristic.

If Eastern would have boxed out and rebounded, their chances of winning the game would have skyrocketed. The Panthers’ offense shot 52 percent in the second half; in fact, they were shooting over 70 percent for the first 10 minutes of the second half.

There is no question that the offense was doing work, especially sophomore guard Ta’Kenya Nixon, who scored a career-high 27 points. But the defense didn’t do what it needed to in order to win.

I suppose this just reemphasizes the fact that rebounding is one of the biggest parts of the game. Winning the rebounding battle results in winning the game.

It is a bad way to end the season when I think many people had higher expectations for the team on a nine-game win streak.

You could just sit here and say, “Well, it is a learning experience.” But they have had too many learning experiences.

However, this could be the best learning experience because every player on this roster is returning next season.

So while Eastern got beat by Austin Peay again, they have something to look forward to with every player coming back.

As I said at the beginning of the season, this team is part of a two-year experiment.

They lost their first chance to win an Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship, but they have one more year.

Nobody understands that better than Sallee.

At the beginning of the season, he said this team has a chance to do things no Eastern team has had the chance to do.

It is still true, having lost to Austin Peay or not.

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