Tourney deadline comes early for Panthers

The deadline for the Ohio Valley Conference women’s basketball playoffs is just two games away, but for the Panthers, it arrives early.

Eastern’s tournament fate will be determined tonight when they face off with Morehead State at 5:15 p.m. in Lantz Gym for a must-win game. If the Panthers suffer another loss to the Eagles, their hopes of a playoff berth will be wiped away.

While Eastern has already captured a win at Morehead earlier this season, the Eagles bring a much-enhanced team to Charleston tonight. Now sitting seventh in the nine-team league, Morehead has inched its way up the standings to 4-10 to place ahead of Tennessee State (4-11) and Eastern (3-11).

While just one team will be bumped from a first round playoff berth, the battle looked to be between Morehead and Eastern, but Tennessee State has now sunk to an eighth place standing.

Eastern is just a half-game behind the Tigers, but a win over Morehead would increase the Panthers’ playoffs chances.

But can the Panthers pull off their first home conference win of the season against Morehead?

Morehead has revamped its playing power, coming off of two decisive victories over Murray State (102-76) and Tennessee-Martin (75-65). Following a five-game losing streak, the Eagles enter Lantz Gym with a three-game winning streak and their first realistic glance at the OVC playoffs in four years.

Eastern, however, has found itself in a similar situation late in the season. Winning two of its last three showings, the Panthers have pulled together 40-minutes of solid basketball. But I haven’t seem them do that on their own court yet and pull off a win.

Murray State and Southeast Missouri provided some recent competition, but Eastern’s consistency gave the Panthers two more conference wins. While facing off with the dominating force of Tennessee Tech last week, Eastern did fall to the hands of the Golden Eaglettes, but not without putting up a brutal fight.

For the first time this season, Eastern has the ability to show its fans what its recent capabilities have accomplished.

With freshman center Pam O’Connor coming in to fight for her new collegiate team, senior guard Renee Schaul continues to fight on her way out. Together, they have led the team in scoring throughout the season. This combination of two players capable of 20-plus scoring efforts has been a major survival key for Eastern.

And we can’t forget Eastern’s recent defensive power on the court. But is this still enough to send Eastern to Tennessee Tech for the first round of playoffs next Tuesday?

It all comes down to tonight. If Eastern can step onto the court with the same attitude its had recently and maintain that for 40 minutes, their season won’t be over just yet.

The Panthers certainly have what it takes to take a second win over Morehead. It’s time to redeem that nine-game losing streak from earlier in the year and show their new game at Lantz.