The Eastern women’s basketball team watched Wednesday as Austin Peay defeated Murray State to make it to the quarterfinals of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

The Panthers, who have beaten Austin Peay twice this season, and as recently as last Thursday, will play the Governors at noon today in Nashville, Tenn.

Now the Panthers have to focus on preparing for the Governors, without a lot of time to do it.

The Panthers need to stay away from any distractions as they prepares to make a run at the tournament title, junior forward Chantelle Pressley said.

Eastern has not won a tournament title since head coach Brady Sallee has been the coach. Last season, they won the regular season title as the No. 1 team in the OVC at the end of the regular season, but lost to Austin Peay in the tournament title game.

To have a chance this season, Nixon said the players need to keep the trip to Nashville simple.

“Get to bed, follow the schedule, talk about the game, don’t let personal issues get in the way, stay together,” sophomore guard Ta’Kenya Nixon said.

Pressley said it will be extremely important to be focused at a shortened, 20-minute, shoot around period before today’s game.

“We have to go over the other team’s stuff and don’t have a lot of time,” Pressley said.

Sallee said the coaches and players have to be focused individually in order to succeed in the tournament.

With meeting schedules and practice schedules being different, Sallee said he, his assistant coaches, and the team leaders have to help younger players keep their eyes on the prize.

“They have to come in a business-like manner,” Sallee said. “Whether we’re going to Fairbanks, Alaska or Nashville we still have the same job.”

The Panthers’ starting five – Pressley, Nixon, and sophomores Mariah King, Kelsey Wyss and Sydney Mitchell – all have experience playing in Nashville.

Sallee said the veteran leadership could give Eastern an edge.

“They’ve been through this rodeo before,” Sallee said. “They saw both what to do and what not to do over the past year.”

Nixon said she expects some of the young players to have nerves before today’s game, but said she is prepared to help them through it.

“We are going to try to get them calm and let them know it’s just another game – it’s a big one, but we’ve played big games before,” Nixon said.

Nixon said last year the inexperience might have made the difference in the Panthers losing. She said having a lot of young players in a big environment might have rattled them a bit.

However, the Panthers have been a confident team ever since the start of its current nine-game winning streak, Pressley said.

“Since those first games, we’ve started preparing ourselves for the tournament,” Pressley said. “Every game has been important.”

In the Panthers second-to-last practice Monday, the team embodied confidence as players cheered and chanted for their teammates.

“Maybe that’s the energy getting bottled up in them,” Sallee said. “They’re excited. They’re ready to go.”

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