The Eastern women’s basketball team bought into what head coach Brady Sallee was asking them to do for Monday’s game against Eastern Kentucky.

Sallee said he knew the Panthers were going to have to win the game by being tough and playing good defense, because the film of Eastern Kentucky showed they matched up with the Panthers pretty well.

“I knew they weren’t going to just let Ta’Kenya (Nixon) come down and shoot lay-ups, throw it into the post and have our way,” Sallee said.

Sallee said he felt his team was tough enough to respond in a physical game.

“I implored them to wear that toughness on their shoulder so to speak,” Sallee said. “Just to be that and be OK with winning a game defensively.”

The Panthers had won their previous four games by an average of 19.5 points and scored more than 70 points in each of the last nine games. Monday, they scored 64 and won by 13 points.

Sallee said the Panthers’ defensive effort allowed the team to get into the 60s in points.

“That defense led to us probably getting into the mid-60s in a low possession game,” Sallee said.

Sallee said he told the team after the game that if its forced to win a game defensively, they should be OK to do that.

“That’s what we do. That’s who we are,” Sallee said.

Junior guard Ta’Kenya Nixon said the team knows how important defense is to being successful and to winning games.

“We definitely know defense is going to win us a championship if we happen to win one,” Nixon said. “We’re willing to do that, to play that tough defense.The Panthers should be OK winning a defensive game as they have one of the best defensive units in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Panthers have the No. 1 scoring defense, allowing only 59 points per game; No. 1 field goal percentage defense with opponents only making 36 percent of their shots; and No. 2 three-point defense with opponents making 28 percent of their shots.

Around the OVC

The Panthers remain the No. 1 team in the Ohio Valley Conference with Tennessee-Martin a close second.

The Panthers, undefeated in the OVC, handed Tennessee-Martin it’s only conference loss of the season. The Skyhawks are 10-1 in the OVC.

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville is in third place in the conference standings; however, this season they aren’t eligible for the OVC tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Tennessee Tech is No. 4 in the conference with an 8-4 OVC record.

The Panthers are preparing for back-to-back OVC road games against Tennessee-Martin and Tennessee Tech.

The Panthers will play Tennessee-Martin Saturday followed by Tennessee Tech on Monday.

Eastern hasn’t played Tennessee Tech yet this season.

The Tennessee-Martin game is a big rematch from earlier this season when Eastern beat them in Lantz Arena; however, Sallee said he didn’t even know they played them Saturday until his assistant coaches told him after Monday’s game.

“I didn’t even know,” Sallee said.

Alex McNamee can

be reached at 581-7942

or admcnamee@eiu.edu