The Eastern women’s basketball team will play its final regular season game Saturday, as it gets ready for the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

The Panthers will play Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, which could be a possible first round matchup in the tournament.

Edwardsville is 17-11 overall and 12-3 in the OVC and is led by red-shirt junior guard Shronda Butts, who averages 15.8 points per game this season.

Butts scored 30 points on 13-of-18 shooting in the last time out against the Panthers on Jan. 31 in Charleston.

Eastern coach Debbie Black said her team is playing better team defense, which will help them defend Butts.

“I don’t think one person can stop Butts,” she said. “Our help defense has gotten so much better in the last three weeks. We are doing some things that are different. We are certainly a lot more intense.”

Edwardsville averages 69.9 points a game and shoots .426 from the floor. Black said they are a very physical team, which could cause problems.

“This team kind of beats you up,” she said. “They play physical. You have to match the physicality and not let it bother you. They have a lot of players that can score and they are playing well.”

The Panthers are coming off a game in which they fell to top-seeded Tennessee-Martin, 63-60, in Lantz Arena Wednesday.

Senior forward Arnisha Thomas, who had a two-game absence, scored 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor and 8-of-10 from the free throw line.

Black said having her back in the lineup is a big deal.

“That was one if the best games she has had,” she said. “I thought particularly she was poised and took the right shots and not crazy shots. She also had five assists, which were very nice assists. She knew what she was doing.”

The Panthers and Cougars will tip-off at 2 p.m. in Edwardsville.

Tournament Scenarios

The Cougars have locked up a No. 2 seed in the tournament, while Eastern will find out its first round opponent later Saturday night after the result of the Austin Peay game, who will face Southeast Missouri at 3:30 p.m.

If the Panthers defeat Edwardsville, they will have a rematch Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the first round of the conference tournament.

Another scenario is the Panthers would play Edwardsville if they lose and Austin Peay loses to Southeast Missouri.

The Panthers would get the eight seed and play top-seeded Tennessee-Martin if they lost to Edwardsville, and Austin Peay were to beat Southeast Missouri.

Eastern will play on the opening day of the tournament regardless of what happens.

Black said the one thing about the OVC is that anyone can be anyone.

“That is what makes the tournament exciting,” she said. “We are probably the seventh or eighth seed, but eight can beat one on any given night. We can play with anybody.”

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].