Women’s basketball to play final road game

Mark Shanahan, Staff Reporter

The Eastern women’s basketball is set to play its final road game of the season against the conference leader Tennessee-Martin.

Eastern heads into this matchup with an overall record of 3-23 and is 2-12 against conference opponents. They have yet to win a game away from their home court this season. Tenneessee-Martin is 10-1 at home this season and is 12-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Their overall record is 19-8 on the season.

Tennessee-Martin won the last meeting between the two teams 65-39. Senior Alece Shumpert scored 14 points off the bench for the Panthers in that game, while the remainder of the team only accounted for 25 points.

Shumpert made five of the Panthers’ 15 field goals for the night, and made four shots from beyond the arc. Sophomore Grace Lennox was the next leading scorer on the team that night, with six points and three assists.

The Skyhawks of Tennessee-Martin presented a stingy defense, as they held Eastern to a season low of 39 points on offense. This came thanks to 14 steals and 24 forced turnovers, which led to 23 points in transition. Senior Haley Howard led the Skyhawks with 15 points while tallying six rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks.

Lennox said that Eastern will have to go against Tennessee-Martin’s defense by not taking quick shots and finding gaps in their defense.

Tennessee-Martin is currently on a two game winning streak after beating Belmont in a battle of the top two teams in the Ohio Valley Conference. The 81-79 victory over Belmont extended the Skyhawk’s OVC home winning streak to 24 games. Howard led the team with 21 points in the game. Teammate Katie Schubert also had a strong game with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Tennessee-Martin took one step closer to the team’s third consecutive OVC Championship with an 86-50 victory over SIU Edwardsville on Saturday evening, marking the team’s largest margin of victory this season. Freshman Myah Taylor led the team in this contest with 19 points and six rebounds.

Eastern is heading into this game on a two-game losing streak after an overtime loss to Murray State and a 30 point loss to Southeast Missouri. Lennox talked about the team’s mindset heading into the final games of the season.

This has been one of Eastern’s biggest losing seasons, so the team is looking to build camaraderie for next season and finish the season off the right way, Lennox said.

The Panthers will play their final road game of the season on Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.

 

Mark Shanahan can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].