The Panthers women’s basketball team’s two true freshman point guards are getting a crash course in college hoops.

When head coach Linda Wunder was recruiting Megan Casad and Melanie Ploger, she thought she would have time to develop her young players to the intensity level of college. But injuries pushed them into a lead role on the team.

Each of the girls were shooting guards in high school, but Wunder saw each of their potential as point guards. Casad and Ploger were both good ball handlers and shooters in high school, Wunder said. Casad is a great penetrator while Ploger is more of an outside scorer, she said. Ploger’s adjustment from shooting guard has slowed her, but they each have different strengths for different situations.

Casad said she was a lead scorer in high school but is getting used to her new role.

“We have scorers so I don’t need to,” Casad said. “Now it’s my job to get the ball to them.”

While Casad has started all of Eastern’s games so far, each of the two girls have gotten equal playing time.

Wunder said they’ve already achieved her first goal of getting them adjusted to Division I basketball.

“The pressure in college is so much different,” Casad said. “It wasn’t as hard to adjust because the upperclassmen were so great.”

The upper-class reassurance has helped Casad and Ploger play what Wunder considers the hardest position to play in college basketball. Casad added that it’s different playing in town where she doesn’t know everyone.

The freshmen have both made the needed adjustments but still see room to improve. Casad said she needs to work on her ball handling because of the quickness of college players as opposed to high school.

“They’re getting comfortable on offense. Now we need to work on their defense,” Wunder said.

“They’re playing against point guards who are bigger, stronger faster and more experienced. They need to compensate for that.”

Wunder wants to work with Casad and Ploger on being more vocal on the court. The point guard needs to be on the same page as the coach which can be difficult because every coach has a different style, Wunder said.

Wunder said it starts in practice to make the girls into a coach on the floor. It’s difficult because she has to focus on talking to Casad and Ploger while talking to the whole team.