Seniors Ta’Kenya Nixon and Sydney Mitchell have come on strong as of late for the Eastern women’s basketball team.

Nixon, who is chasing the program’s all-time scoring leader, Rachel Galligan, has scored 18 or more points in four of her last five games.

Nixon is 188 points shy of breaking Galligan’s all-time points record, meaning she will have to average 18.8 points per game in the last 10 regular seasons games. 

Depending on how many conference tournament games the Panthers play, the average could change.

Nixon’s pursuit of the record is within reach, as she has scored 23, 18 and 20 points in the last three games, respectively.

Those three games — against Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay and Murray State — have come against some of the conference’s toughest opponents. 

Tennessee Tech and Murray State are among the leaders in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Nixon still has a way to go but has increased her points per game averaged by 1.2 points in the last three games.

While Nixon chases the record, Mitchell is finally starting to put up big numbers game-in and game-out.

Mitchell, a senior forward, has battled injuries most of the season, but her recent games have shown how much she has improved.

Mitchell scored in double figures in the all of the last three games, whereas she would only have done that three previous times this season.

She finished the last two games — against Murray State and Austin Peay — with double doubles. She scored 10 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, a career high, against Austin

Peay. Then, she scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Murray State.

OVC glance

With a little more than one month left in the regular season, there are tight races atop the OVC standings in both the east and west divisions.

Belmont is the clear leader atop the league, and the east division, with a 7-1 conference record. The Bruins are 12-8 overall, boasting one of the best records in the league.

Eastern has the second best record in the league, at 11-8 overall, and is tied for first place in the west division with Tennessee-Martin. The two teams have 5-2 conference records.

Eastern’s tied with Tennessee-Martin will be settled on Monday when the two teams play each other in Lantz Arena.

Also in the west, Murray State holds the third place spot with a win over Eastern on Monday to their benefit.

Following Belmont in the East, Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky are 4-2 in the conference. Morehead State is not far behind.

Tennessee-Martin’s top players, Heather Butler and Jasmine Newsome, have made it a habit of scoring the most points in the conference each year. They are doing it again.

Butler averages 22 points per game, while Newsome averages 20.9. They are the only two players in the OVC to average 20 or more points per game.

Eastern’s next game is at 4 p.m. Saturday against Southeast Missouri in Lantz Arena.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-2812 or admcnamee@eiu.edu.