The Eastern women’s basketball team has been on an offensive tear as of late, averaging 77.5 in its last two games.

The Panthers scored 84 points in a loss to Tennessee-Martin and shot their best shooting percentage of the season at 60.4 percent.

In Saturday’s game against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, the Panthers scored 71 points and shot 34 percent from the floor, but 44 percent from the 3-point line.

The offensive tear has come with the help of the Panthers’ top three players, Jordyne Crunk, Sabina Oroszova and Katlyn Payne.

Crunk has accumulated 19 assists in Eastern’s previous two games.

Oroszova has scored 45 points in her last two games on 18-of-30 shooting. Payne has scored 51 points in the last two games and shot 13-of-24 from the 3-point line.

The Panthers are currently tied with Morehead State for the eighth and final playoff spot, but would lose the tiebreaker because Morehead State defeated the Panthers on Jan. 4, 75-64.

Around the OVC

Tennessee-Martin is 10-0 in OVC play and holds the No. 1 seed.

The Skyhawks have a 17-6 overall record and have scored 100 points in five games this season.

Eastern Kentucky is currently the No. 2 seed. The Colonels have the best scoring defense in the OVC, only giving up 64 points a game. Also, they have a top-four scoring offense averaging 68 points per game.

Tennessee-Martin’s Heather Butler, Belmont’s Taylor Mills and Edwardsville’s Micah Jones received Adidas player of the week honors.

Butler, who leads the conference in scoring, scored 44 points in Monday’s game against Eastern Kentucky on 12-of-19 shooting.

Belmont has won three games in a row and Mills has led her team with an average of 12 points during the previous week. She averages eight points on the season.

Eastern will play Southeast Missouri at 4:15 p.m. Saturday in Lantz Arena. Following that game the Panthers will have three straight road games.

Eastern has struggled on the road this season, going 1-8, which includes a 0-4 road OVC record.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu.