Eastern will be looking for that elusive first conference victory as the Panthers square off against Southeast Missouri State Tuesday evening.

The Panthers (3-10, 0-2) will attempt to knock off the preseason Ohio Valley Conference favorite in its own building.

“We need to become aggressive toward defending our home floor,” Eastern head coach Linda Wunder said.

Wunder stressed that her squad needs to shoot the ball better in order to pull close games out in the final minutes.

“Those shots are going to fall but we have gotta take good shots,”Wunder said. “Sometimes it’s a matter of conference teams knowing your tendencies better.”

The Eastern coach has been impressed with the defensive effort from her team in the two OVC losses as the Panthers have only allowed 62.5 points per game and opponents are shooting less than 38 percent from the field.

“I think we’ve done a good job defensively and I’m happy with the effort on that end of the floor,” Wunder said.

The Otahkians have already received instant respect from the Panthers coaching staff when they sat down to scout them by being ranked number one before the season started.

“They get credibility from us by returning a lot of players and the fact they defeated us three times last year,” Wunder said.

The Panthers will rely on its three starters who are averaging double figures in scoring. Junior Pam O’Connor is leading the team in points with 16.2 points per game along with senior Lauren Dailey earning 13.2 and sophomore Meghan Sparks putting up nearly 11.

Eastern understands that it needs veteran leadership to get the ball rolling in conference play.

“All of your captains have to step up because we can’t sit back and wait for teams to hand us victories,” Wunder said.

SEMO plays a up-tempo style and will attempt to rattle Eastern’s pair of freshman guards (Meghan Casad and Melanie Ploger) by pressuring them with a full-court press.

“Controlling the tempo against them is a big key because they will pick us up full court but I’m pleased with the progress with our point guards,” Wunder said.

SEMO also comes to Charleston with three players in double figures but is led by senior guard Kenja White who had 29 points in its 102-90 overtime win over Tennessee Tech.

Eastern does not consider this game a must-win yet, but understands that every conference game at home holds more value, especially when Wunder has beaten the Otahkians in five straight contests.

“We have to be able to defend our home court, but we’re still trying to see where we stack up with some of the other OVC contenders,” Wunder said.