Katlyn Payne has enrolled in classes at Eastern this semester and joined women’s basketball head coach Brady Sallee’s roster.

However, Payne will not be able to play for the Panthers until after the Fall 2011 final exams. As a transfer from Florida Gulf Coast, Payne will have three and a half years of eligibility for the Panthers.

Payne, a 5-foot-11 forward, is a native of Fort Myers, Fla. where she played her senior season of high school and averaged 24 points per game. Payne played her sophomore and junior season in Illinois at Fenwick High School, where she averaged 18 points per game.

In a recent press release, Sallee said Payne was a player he and his staff closely followed in high school and desperately wanted.

“Before moving to Florida, she was one of the top players in Illinois, and upon her arrival in Florida, quickly established herself as one of the tops in Florida as well,” Sallee said.

Sallee’s technical fuels team

In the second half of Saturday’s game against Morehead State, Sallee got a technical foul. The technical ended up fueling Eastern to make a comeback, even though they lost the game.

“We could have folded then, but we knew it was our time to pull through,” freshman guard Jordyne Crunk said. “I think it got us fired up, and put a fire beneath our butt.”

Sophomore guard Ta’Kenya Nixon said after seeing her coach so upset, she wondered why she wasn’t the same way.

“When I see my coach emotional and passionate like that, I think to myself, ‘If he cares that much, how much do I care? If he’s that angry shouldn’t I be passionate like that?” Nixon said.

Nixon said from that point she felt like she had to show his emotion on the court.

“I just tried to feed off of that and go out and attack like he told me to,” Nixon said.

Coaches excited about Crunk

Crunk scored 12 points in each of the two games this weekend. Crunk’s scoring total was a career-high for her.

Saturday, Crunk played 31 minutes in the game, scoring 12 points and grabbing four rebounds.

Crunk’s 31 minutes were third highest on the team behind Nixon, who played all 40 minutes, and junior forward Chantelle Pressley, who played 38 minutes.

Sallee said Crunk has been working on her shot a lot lately, and it has shown.

Saturday, she was 2-of-3 from three-point land. Thursday, she was 2-for-2.

Sallee said Crunk is a player who has began to look promising in the past couple weeks. Crunk, who is not used to playing off of the bench, said she is getting used to her role.

“I’m not used to that, but I do what I have to do to help the team,” Crunk said.

Injuries piling up on roster

Freshman guard Jackie Herman will not play for the rest of the season; instead she will sit on the bench with a brace on her leg, nursing a season-ending knee injury.

Saturday, Sallee only played seven of his players. Sallee said with the injuries, team depth is becoming a concern.

Junior guard Stephanie Benninger is also injured. Sallee said she will be out for a few weeks.

Also, junior guard Pilar Walker is injured, although Sallee said he is not sure exactly what the problem is.

“You can just call her injured,” Sallee said.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944 or [email protected]