Discipline will be key for the Eastern women’s basketball team Friday night when they welcome Sacramento State to Lantz Arena.

The Hornets run a fast-paced offense unlike any other the Panthers might see this season and Eastern head coach Lee Buchanan said slowing the game down will be important.

Sacramento State runs a full-court press on defense every possession — no matter if its offensive shot is made or missed.

Most teams won’t put a full-court press on, unless the team on offense is taking the ball out of bounds after a made shot.

Buchanan said Sacramento State is going to try to push up the tempo regardless of what Eastern tries to do.

He said the Panthers have to push the ball down the court when it’s available, as they did in Tuesday’s win against Evansville, but execute a half-court offense when it isn’t.

“Sacramento State is used to playing crazy, fast, sloppy. If you play their style it’s to their strength,” Buchanan said. “We have to slow it down at times and execute our half court offenses.”

The Panthers will have to execute like Evansville did in the first half of Tuesday’s game, Buchanan said.

Evansville scored 34 points in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field. In the game, the Aces didn’t score a single fast-break point.

“We have to execute our half court offenses and make them play defense, which they don’t really like to do,” Buchanan said.

Although Evansville plays in the half court — different than Sacramento State — the Hornets and Aces are similar in that they feature a lot of cutting actions on offense.

The Hornets are a big team with 6-foot-4 forward Megan Kritscher, who is a tough matchup.

Another forward, Kylie Kuhns, likes to pop out to the perimeter and face-up defenders, Buchanan said, but won’t shoot it. Instead, she’ll try to drive to the basket.

Buchanan said Eastern’s forwards will have to do a good job defending her.

But Kuhns and Kritscher aren’t even the team’s leading scorers. Alle Moreno and Fantasia Hilliard, who each average 12 points per game, lead the Hornets.

Discipline is a big part of the game plan, Buchanan said. The Panthers will have to avoid losing track of the game plan in the midst of all the Hornets are doing.

“They’re going to run the whole game,” Buchanan said.

The Hornets come into the game with a 4-3 record. Their most recent loss came against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, an Ohio Valley Conference opponent the Panthers will play later this year.

The game is set to begin at 7 p.m. Friday in Lantz Arena.

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