March has arrived, and with it comes the start of the end for college basketball. This week starts the 31 conference tournaments that will decide the 31 automatic bids to make the National tournament. 

The first conference champion to be crowned will be the Ohio Valley Conference. The Eastern Illinois University women’s basketball team is aiming to be the one.

Senior forward Ellie Colson said that the team is not thinking about the end of the season. 

“That’s kind of our mindset,” Colson said. “This is not the end. The OVC is not the end for us.” 

Eastern enters the OVC tournament as the three seed with an 18-11 record overall and a 15-5 record in conference play.  

The Panthers started conference play 10-0 and then lost five of their next eight on the way to dropping to the three seed. 

Senior forward Macy McGlone is coming off a great week as she averaged 20.5 points and 20 rebounds– a double double. She also got named the OVC player of the week for the sixth time this season. 

The road to the NCAA tournament for Eastern starts Thursday. However, the tournament starts Wednesday.  

Eastern will play the winner of the game between the seven and six seeds which are Western Illinois and UT Martin.  

Western Illinois is led by sophomore guard Raegan McCowan, averaging 21.3 points and 7.8 rebounds a game.  

UT Martin is led by sophomore guard Kenley McCarn and junior forward Anaya Brown. McCarn is averaging 13.8 points and four rebounds a game and Brown is averaging 15.4 points and 5.8 rebounds a game.  

Eastern lost its last game against Western Illinois but has beaten UT Martin in both of its meetings. 

On the same side of Eastern’s bracket is the two seed Lindenwood. Because Lindenwood is the number two seed, the Lions have a bye until Friday. Eastern won the first matchup but lost the last one against the Lions. 

The other side of the bracket starts with the eight seed Tennessee State and the five seed Southern Indiana. Southern Indiana is trying to repeat last year as the Screaming Eagles won the OVC tournament.  

The winner of that game will face the four-seeded Little Rock. Then, the winner of that game will face the number one seed and the regular season OVC champions, Tennessee Tech.  

If Lindenwood or Southern Indiana were to make the finals of the OVC tournament, the team facing them would make the NCAA tournament. 

If both teams were to make the championship, then Tennessee Tech would make it automatically as the highest seed is able to make the national tournament. 

Eastern is currently coming off two wins at home against Southeast Missouri State and Little Rock. Eastern has been dealing with injuries as well. 

Senior guard Kiyley Flowers just came back from injury and forward Colson and redshirt sophomore guard Ella Lune have been out the last two games. Senior guard Alex Rouse also left the game injured on March 1 against SEMO. 

Head coach Marqus McGlothan said he is happy to have a bye for players to rest up. 

“Obviously, you know, we’re a little banged up,” McGlothan said. “So, the more rest we can get, the better, so we can be ready to go in the OVC tournament.” 

Last year, Eastern went into the OVC tournament as the four seed and ended up losing to Southern Indiana in the semi-finals.  

Eastern will play its first game on Thursday against UT Martin or Western Illinois at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. 

Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at pfschmitz@eiu.edu.