The Indiana State women’s basketball team lost by 15 points last season against Eastern, but didn’t have Taylor Whitley playing – the Sycamores’ quick point guard.

Whitley was hurt and held out of the Dec. 10 game in Lantz Arena, but she played in 20 games and averaged 7.5 points and 2.8 assists per game.

She’ll be Eastern senior guard Ta’Kenya Nixon’s responsibility and Eastern head coach Lee Buchanan said Nixon will be challenged to stay out of foul trouble.

“She’s a really good driver and takes the ball to the rim,” Buchanan said. “She gets people in foul trouble.”

Senior guard Kelsey Wyss said Whitley will try to drive into the paint and pass the ball outside to teammates.

“(Nixon) can’t let her get into the lanes she’s looking for or get to the rim,” Wyss said.

But the Panthers’ defense doesn’t solely rely on man-to-man defending. Rather, the Panthers “guard space,” as Buchanan described last week.

Nixon said the defense isn’t about who guards who; instead, the team hopes to get a defensive advantage where it’s “one against five” when someone gets the ball.

The Panthers will also be playing close attention to guard Anna Munn and forward Racheal Mahan.

Munn is a good shooter, Wyss said, who shot 38 percent from the three-point line last season and averaged 10 points per game. She was also second on the team in rebounds.

Mahan is a sophomore this season and only started one game last year, but played in 27. Buchanan said she’s playing with a lot of confidence coming into the season.

“She’s a really nice left-handed post player,” Buchanan said. “We can’t let her get it going on the blocks.”

The Panthers are working on getting everyone healthy to start the year, specifically senior forward Sydney Mitchell. Mitchell is a perennial starter, but didn’t play the Panthers’ exhibition game Sunday against Illinois-Springfield.

Buchanan said Mitchell is just starting to get close to being 100 percent healthy, battling back problems over the summer.

Friday’s game will, though, and the Panthers will try to avoid starting 0-1; however, they haven’t played well in Terre Haute, historically.

Before winning last season at home, the Panthers hadn’t beaten the Sycamores in over a decade.

“We’ve lost 10 in a row over there at the Hulman Center,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan said he expects Indiana State to run a lot of set plays, but said his team needs to worry about itself more than anything else.

“They always bring it,” Nixon said. “We always bring it. I know it’s going to be a tough one. We’re ready for that.”

The game is set to tipoff at 6:05 p.m. in Terre Haute, Ind.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].