After starting the conference season with a 13-0 record, the EIU women’s basketball team has lost its last three games.

EIU remains in second place in the OVC with a 13-3 conference record. 

The team has only two games remaining in the regular season as they host Morehead State on Wednesday evening and then Tennessee Tech on Saturday afternoon. 

The Panthers will have to win the remaining games to clinch a higher seed in the OVC tournament as Little Rock remains the front runner as they have a 15-1 record in conference going into the last two games.  

EIU faced SIUE, SEMO, and Little Rock on the road over the last week and a half. They fell to SIUE 82-77 as Ajulu Thatha and her teammates were able to take the upper hand at home.

The Panthers lost to SEMO 62-57 in a tough battle on the road and then they fell to number one team Little Rock in Arkansas 46-42. All of these games were within five points and ultimately came down to the last second.  

Senior guard Lariah Washington said the Panthers are ready to bounce back after not playing at the team’s best the last few games. 

“The last few games, we haven’t been at our best,” Washington said. “[We’re] just going to continue to work everyday and work towards our goal. We know teams wanna beat us and we just have to come ready to every game.”  

Head coach Matt Bollant said the team is learning from the mistakes that were made in the losses. 

“We are determined to learn from the last three games and make us better,” Bollant said. 

Both Washington and Bollant expressed their excitement for returning home after being on the road.  

“I’m really excited for these last two home games,” Washington said. “We’re all looking forward to playing at home. It’ll be nice to be at home with all our friends and family, so looking forward to that as well. [We] are looking forward to these next two games as we prepare for the OVC tournament.” 

“Just excited to be back home,” Bollant said. “We played really well there the last couple of games and hoping that continues in front of our great fans.” 

The team has had much success this season and is looking forward to continuing it into the postseason as they look forward to the OVC tournament at the beginning of March.  

The last two games of the season will go by quickly as they keep up the race for the top of the OVC. 

Tipoff against Morehead State on Wednesday is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Lantz Arena and senior day honoring seniors Lariah Washington and Morgan Litwiller will tip off at 1 p.m. Saturday. 

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