The transfer portal for men’s and women’s NCAA Division I basketball opened on March 18.
Since then, three Panthers from the women’s team have put their names in the transfer portal:
- Miah Monahan
The junior guard from Silver Lake, Minnesota, has played at Eastern since her freshman year back in the 2021-2022 season.
During the 2023-2024 season, Monahan recorded 370 points, averaging 11.2 points per game. Monahan also recorded 169 assists, 119 rebounds and 43 steals.
Monahan was also named 2023-2024 Second Team All-OVC.
Throughout her three years at Eastern, Monahan recorded a total of 736 points, 349 assists, 307 rebounds and 108 steals.
Monahan entered the transfer portal after the 2023-2024 season and committed to South Dakota University.
- Julia Bengtson
The junior guard from Becker, Minnesota, has played for Eastern since her freshman year back in the 2021-2022 season.
During the 2023-2024 season, Bengtson recorded 43 points, averaging 1.5 per game. Bengtson also recorded 18 rebounds, 18 assists and 12 steals.
Throughout her three years at Eastern, Bengtson recorded a total of 353 points, 137 rebounds, 84 assists and 59 steals.
As of Sunday, Bengtson has not committed to a new school since putting her name in the transfer portal.
- Taris Thornton
Junior forward Taris Thornton recorded 174 points and averaged 8.7 points per game during the 2023-2024 season. (File)
The junior guard from Chicago has played for Eastern since her freshman year back in the 2021-2022 season.
During the 2023-2024 season, Thornton recorded 174 points, averaging 8.7 per game. Thornton also recorded 102 rebounds, 24 steals, 17 blocks and 15 assists.
Throughout her three years at Eastern, Thornton recorded a total of 505 points, 275 rebounds, 66 steals, 53 assists and 40 blocks.
As of Sunday, Thornton has not committed to a new school since putting her name in the transfer portal.
Monahan, Bengtson and Thornton helped the 2023-2024 team finish the season with a 15-18 record and make it to the semifinals in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
As of Sunday, 40 players from the OVC have entered the transfer portal.
Morehead State University has the most players entering the transfers portal with 10 as University of Arkansas at Little Rock (7) and Southeast Missouri State University (5) follow behind.
University of Tennessee at Martin has four players entering the transfer portal, while Eastern, Lindenwood University and Tennessee Tech University have three players that put their names in the portal.
Western Illinois University and Tennessee State University both have two players from their respective programs entering the transfer portal.
The reigning OVC regular season and tournament champion, University of Southern Indiana, have only one player entering the transfer portal.
Besides Monahan, the only other player committed to a new school is freshman guard Daejah Richmond. Richmond, originally at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has committed to play for the UT Martin Skyhawks.
At the end of the 2022-2023 season, the OVC had 49 female basketball players transfer out of their respective programs.
SEMO led with nine players putting their names into the transfer portal. Morehead State was right behind with eight players putting their name into the transfer portal.
Tennessee State (7), SEMO (6) and Lindenwood (6) also had more than five players enter the transfer portal.
Tennessee Tech had four players leave their program after entering their names in the transfer portal, and UT Martin had three players leave.
Eastern had only one player transfer out of the program that year, junior guard Haley Cameron.
Because collegiate basketball is considered a winter sport in the NCAA, athletes that play a winter sport that enter the transfer portal have a 60-day transfer window, as it begins with the given sport’s championship selection.
The transfer portal closes May 1.
Zaria Flippin can be reached at 581-2812 or zhflippin@eiu.edu.
