Eastern’s women’s basketball team is on a roll this season.

The Panthers have begun their season 8-0 for the first time since the 2012-2013 season when they began the OVC season 11-0.

As they have an overall 16-3 record, they have won eight in a row and are 8-2 at home and 8-1 on the road.

EIU has a complete team of diverse and strong athletes. They have several different players who have seen OVC and NCAA D1 rankings, reached accolades and won awards this season.

The Panthers are currently 188th in the nation according to NCAA D1 rankings and on Jan. 24th, they were named 24th on the CollegeInsider.com’s Women’s Mid Major Top 25 poll.

Senior guard Lariah Washington has won OVC Player of the Week three times this season and is currently ranked number one in the OVC and 34th in the nation for points per game as she currently scores 18.4 per game.

Washington is also number one in the OVC for her .846 free throw percentage and 6th for her .489 field goal percentage. She is 7th in the OVC for assists with 3.4 per game and for her assist/turnover ratio that is 1.8.

Senior forward Morgan Litwiller is 3rd in the OVC for her .407 three-point percentage and 10th for her 1.4 three-pointers per game. Just last week, she matched a game high of seven total three-pointers made in the game at Tennessee State. She is currently ranked 18th in the OVC for her 9.6 points per game and 14th for her 5.1 rebound per game. She has a .453 field goal percentage which places her in 12th in the OVC.

Sophomore Macy McGlone has earned OVC Newcomer of the Week four times this season, three of them coming in the last three consecutive weeks. She is number one in the OVC for offensive rebounds with about 2.9 per game and tied 6th for defensive rebounds as she has about 4.6 per game. She is 10th in the OVC for her scoring at 12.3 points per game and is currently 2nd in rebounding as she grabs about 7.5 per game.

McGlone is 2nd in the OVC with a .527 field goal percentage and 8th for her .760 free throw percentage. She is currently tied for 2nd in blocked shots as she blocks about 1.2 per game.

Sophomore guard Miah Monahan has been a strong player for the Panthers. She scores about 8.4 points per game which places her at 27th in the league. She is number 1 in the OVC for her 1.8 assist/turnover ratio. She is 3rd in the OVC in assists as she has about 4.9 per game. Monahan is tied for 13th in the OVC in steals as she has about 1.6 per game.

Monahan has been on fire for EIU when it comes to three-pointers. She is currently tied for 8th in the OVC for her .333 three-point field goal percentage and is 13th for her 1.2 three-pointers per game average.

Other players ranked in the OVC are sophomore forward Taris Thornton who is 11th in the OVC for her .645 free throw percentage and freshman guard Lyric Johnson who is tied with Washington for 20th in the OVC for rebounds, both with 4.5 per game.

Having a stacked and complete team has led the Panthers to success this season.

They look to continue the win streak as they remain on the road as they will face University of Southern Indiana on Thursday evening at 5 p.m. The next home game for the Panthers is Saturday as they will face Southeast Missouri at 1 p.m.

Kate Stevens can be reached at 581-2812 or kestevens2@eiu.edu