The Eastern women’s basketball team is about three weeks away from starting its season.

Sabina Oroszova is the lone returning starter from last season as the Panthers lost the three starters to graduation in Taryn Olson, Morgan Palombizio and Jordyne Crunk.

Katlyn Payne was the surprise loss for the Panthers as she transferred from the school for non-basketball reasons. Payne will be playing basketball this season at Northern Illinois.

Coming off a 12-16 record last season and a first round exit in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, Oroszova said she has high expectations for this year’s team.

“With our potential and strong individuals, I believe we can be on the top of this league,” she said. “We need to be focused on little things and be ready to work hard every day. The conference this season doesn’t seem to have an obvious leader and I believe whoever we play the hardest and as a team will be the winner. I want us to be that team.”

Head coach Debbie Black signed six new freshmen that will be playing on the team this season and have two new transfers coming in.

Most notably is freshman Grace Lennox, who is coming over from Hobart, Tasmania in Australia.

Black played in Tasmania during her playing career for seven seasons, when she played for the Tasmania Islanders.

Lennox played for the Hobart Chargers in Tasmania and led the team to the 2013 Premier League Championships. She also was a two-time All-League player and was a member of the U17 National Team that competed in the FIBA Oceania Games.

Oroszova has been impressed with her fellow foreigner thus far this season.

“She knows the game well,” she said. “She works hard, runs the point well and makes other players better. I believe she can be a real weapon for our team.”

Chemistry-wise, the Panthers will have to develop a new chemistry with all the young players on the team. Oroszova said the chemistry is getting better and better with every practice.

“We are starting to see each other better and finding the best shot on the floor,” she said. “This year’s team has a lot of strong individuals and when we get them to work together, we will be a great team, which will be hard to stop.”

Last season the Panthers had multiple leaders on the team, but this season they will be looking for that one leader to help the team.

Oroszova said she wants to be that leader this season and wants to be a type of leader that will make other players better.

“Since I am a veteran and the conference knows me as a player, I know I’m going to draw a lot of attention,” she said. “I’m ready to be double-teamed and played on very hard. I want to use this to help my teammates on the team. We have a lot of good players that can take advantage of me being overplayed.”

“Since this is my last year I want to be a leader that does all the right stuff and use my experience in our favor, work hard and set an example and lead my team in the right direction.”

Oroszova took the Ohio Valley Conference by storm last season, when she started all 28 games the panthers played, leading the team in rebounding and scoring.

She averaged 16.9 points per game, which ranked fifth in the OVC and averaged 10.6 rebounds per game. Also, she had 16 double-doubles, which ranked 24th in the NCAA and ranked 25th in the NCAA in rebounds per game.

The Panthers will start their season at home against Missouri-Kansas City on Nov. 15.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].