The Eastern women’s basketball team will start its season looking like a brand new team.

The Panthers have eight new players, including six freshman and two transfers.

Most notable is freshman Grace Lennox from Australia, who said the team chemistry, has improved from day one.

“We have a lot of new players this year, so we had a great deal of work to do in the beginning,” she said. “Through working with our coaches, we have been able to find each other more in scrimmages, learn who should be taking the most shots and where to give them the ball. I still feel like we have further to improve.”

The Panthers finished 12-16 last season and 7-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference and were knocked out of in the first round of the conference tournament by Eastern Kentucky and this season their non-conference schedule is not easy.

Eastern will have 13 non-conference games this season and have possibly three games against schools in major conferences.

Northwestern from the Big Ten and Florida State from the ACC are the two teams the Panthers will play for sure.

They will possibly play Arizona State from the Pac 12, depending on how the tournament goes at Arizona State.

Second-year coach Debbie Black understands how tough the Panthers non-conference schedule is.

“We need to grow each game,” she said. “We have to get better each game. We are going to make some mistakes, but it is always how you handle those mistakes. That is what we are going to need to work on.”

The Panthers will have five non-conference games at home and eight on the road. Eastern had a 3-10 record away from Lantz Arena last season.

With the season getting underway on Saturday, Lennox said she has nothing but high expectations for the team.

“I have never seen any of the competition before,” she said. “However, I always put high expectations on myself and my teammates, so I believe that if we stick together, run the ball, use our strengths and be the best defensive team, then we can win the conference.”

Last season, the Panthers only had two players coming off the bench that played substantial minutes in Erica Brown and Arnisha Thomas.

Black said, there is a big difference between this year’s team and last year’s team.

“We have depth and we have more athleticism,” she said. “That is going to go a long way. We have people pushing each other at practice. If you start the game that does not mean you are guaranteed minutes. You can come in and win minutes at anytime. We didn’t have that last year. We had no one pushing anybody.”

One of the biggest additions to the Panthers’ team is Bryce Agler, who was added to the coaching staff to add a younger presence to the staff.

Agler is the son of current WNBA Seattle Storm coach Brian Agler and has grown up around the game of basketball.

Black and current assistant Sheri Sam both played against Brian Agler teams during their long careers in the ABL and WNBA.

Bryce played two season of college basketball at the College of Wooster and also at Wittenberg University.

Black said Bryce gives them a good feel for what her players are doing out there.

“I am really excited about the hire,” she said. “He adds a whole new dimension to this staff. He kind of completes the puzzle for us.  His passion for the game is big as well.”

Eastern starts its season at 2 p.m. Saturday at Lantz Arena against Kansas City.

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