With matching records at 7-6 overall, the Eastern women’s basketball team will look to win its first conference game on the road Tuesday at Southeast Missouri State.

SEMO is 1-1 in conference and Eastern is 0-2 and 1-6 on the road this season. The game should match up well for both teams and give momentum to the winner early in conference play.

SEMO head coach B.J. Smith is only focused on Eastern right now and enforces a game-by-game attitude with his team, he said.

Smith looks for the Panthers to present bigger problems as a whole team compared to in years past.

“They are a lot better at the guards and more up tempo as a team,” Smith said.

“They are big inside and athletic outside. They are a lot more versatile than in the past,” he said.

The Panthers know that in order for them to win, especially on the road, they need to play solid defense, head coach Brady Sallee said.

“We have given up a huge chunk of points in the games on the road aside from the Butler game in which we won,” Sallee said.

Sallee also said the Panthers need to get the ball inside to win.

“We need to try to turn it into a post game,” he said. “We need to exploit (SEMO) inside and get their post players in foul trouble.”

One reason the Panthers may want to feed the ball to the post might be the recent success of Janelle Cazy and her career high 35 points against Austin Peay on Saturday.

“She is really a tough guard,” Sallee said. “She presents a lot of problems because of her size, and she has gotten a lot tougher.”

Playing at home should be a big advantage for the Redhawks. They are 5-1 at home this season, and Smith said that winning at home anytime during the season is important for his team.

Sallee said Eastern needs to get the taste of winning again since it has been consistent this season by not getting in any long losing streaks.

The Panthers will play at Cape Girardeau, Mo., at 5 p.m. today, their fifth road game in a row.