Tennessee Tech will play Eastern today in Nashville, Tenn., in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The winner will advance to the title game Saturday.

With an 81-65 win over Eastern Kentucky Thursday, Tennessee Tech advanced to the semifinal against Eastern.

The Eastern women’s basketball team will be playing its first game in the tournament because it earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament and was given a double-bye directly to the semifinals.

Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said the team will be approaching today’s game like a road game because Tennessee Tech is closer to Nashville than Eastern.

Sallee said the team is used to road games, though, because it has played four of its last five games on the road.

“It doesn’t mean our heart isn’t going to be as big as anyone playing,” Sallee said.

Eastern and Tennessee Tech have only played once this season. Eastern beat the Golden Eagles 52-51 Feb. 13 in Cookeville, Tenn.

Junior guard Ta’Kenya Nixon led the way for the Panthers with 15 points as the only Panther to score in double figures.

Three other Panthers scored eight points, including junior forward Sydney Mitchell who scored eight points and had 10 rebounds.

Sallee said the Panthers have used this week to focus on themselves and make sure they are playing as good as they can.

“We’re going to be very business as usual,” Sallee said. “We’re going to go down there and hole up in the hotel and show up and go play.”

The game is set to begin at 2 p.m. in Municipal Auditorium. It follows the earlier game between No. 4 seed Murray State and No. 1 seed Tennessee-Martin. The championship game will be at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7942 or admcnamee@eiu.edu.