Goals set going into offseason
The Eastern women’s basketball team is adjusting to Thursdays and Saturdays without games to play.
The Panthers are entering this offseason with the same goal they have always had – to be better than they are now.
There are not any graduating seniors on this season’s team; however, they only have one year left with the current roster.
“There is going to be pressure to win a championship and pressure to be better than we are right now,” sophomore guard Ta’Kenya Nixon said.
With one year left with the current roster, Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said the team needs a sense of urgency to win a championship.
“We need to quit pooh-poohing our way around it and go get it done,” Sallee said.
Sallee said the team had moments this season, which it played with a sense or urgency, and played better than usual; however, he said there were also times when the team fell into a comfort zone.
Sallee said the sense of urgency to bring home a title from Nashville, Tenn. in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament has to start this offseason.
The Panthers were playing their best basketball to end the regular season, as they won nine games in a row.
After winning nine straight games to end the regular season, the Panthers lost their first game in the OVC tournament and their first game in the Women’s Basketball Invitational.
During the streak, Sallee said the Panthers were doing a collection of things well.
“We were getting great production out of our five spot,” Sallee said.
Sophomore forward Mariah King scored 18 or more points in six of the nine games of the winning streak.
Also, Sallee said Nixon, sophomore guard Kelsey Wyss and sophomore forward Sydney Mitchell were all averaging double-digit points during the streak.
During the streak, Sallee said the team figured out how to follow the game plan.
“We had a team that said, ‘OK, whatever you ask us to do we are going to do and we’ll live with the results,'” Sallee said. “You saw us playing as close to our potential as we did all year.”
Next season, the Panthers look forward to getting healthier with the return of freshman guard Jackie Herman, who sat out most of the season with a knee injury, freshman guard Jessica Parker, who struggled through knee problems throughout the season, and junior guard Stephanie Benninger, who was also injured.
“It will add depth to our roster because Jackie and Jess are good shooters,” Wyss said.
Sallee said getting those players back healthy will help the team from the perimeter, with Parker and Herman being talented three-point shooters.
Red-shirt freshman forward Katlyn Payne will be eligible to play for Eastern in the middle of next season, and will also add perimeter depth, Sallee said.
Payne transferred to Eastern from Florida-Gulf Coast in January.
The Panthers finished 18-13 this season, third in the OVC in the regular season. For the second straight year, the Panthers played in a national postseason tournament – the WBI.
Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944 or admcnamee@eiu.edu
Goals set going into offseason
Ta’Kenya Nixon, a sophomore guard, makes her way around a Tennessee State player Jan. 27 in Lantz Arena. (Audrey Sawyer
