The women’s basketball team struggled on defense in its 86-82 exhibition win over Illinois-Wesleyan last Thursday, allowing the Division III school to shoot 45 percent from the field and make eight three-pointers. 

Luckily for the Panthers, however, the game was just an exhibition, and the Panthers were able to identify what went wrong on defense ahead of their regular season opener Tuesday night. 

Giving up 82 points to Wesleyan raised some red flags, and Eastern’s coaching staff worked quickly to identify what needed to be changed on the court, and the problem identified itself clear as day. 

The issue was that Eastern’s defenders were not leaving their feet to contest shots, allowing Wesleyan to draw too many clean looks. Eastern was closing on ball-handlers well enough, but when the shooter left the court to take the shot, the Panthers did not follow suit.

“It has been proven in statistics that if you leave your feet on the contest that it helps lower the (shooting) percentage,” head coach Matt Bollant said. “And I think our kids at times were closing out and were worried about them getting by them. You can still stay in a stance, but then as they go to shoot it, you see that then leave your feet and get a hand in their face.”

Getting his players to leave their feet while contesting shots was Bollant’s main teaching point after the Wesleyan game, and after what he described as “two good days of practice” on Saturday and Sunday, he expects his team’s defensive production to be higher on Tuesday.

“I think it’s going to be better for sure,” Bollant said. “Again, obviously you have to worry about a shot fake and kids that are good with that. But I think we’re going to do a better job contesting shots.”

The defense in general was worked on in practice this weekend, with upticks in communication and “passion” being highlighted. Communication on the court was something that senior guard Grace Lennox identified as an issue after the Wesleyan game. 

But, in that game the Panthers did rotate 13 different players, creating a lot of different groupings on the court, which is something they will not be doing on Tuesday. 

The starting five will remain the same against Oakland City, with Lennox, Taylor Steele and Karle Pace at the guard positions and Jennifer Nehls and Grace McRae at the forwards. 

Kira Arthofer and Damonique Miller will again be the first two players off of the bench and perhaps keeping that continuity will lead to the Panthers communicating better on the court. 

Bollant did not feel that he rotated players against Wesleyan quite as he should have. Three players came in the game and played just one minute, something he says is not good for a player’s confidence moving forward or a good strategy during the game itself. 

On Tuesday the plan is to deploy less players, but give the players that do see time on the court more significant minutes.

“We will try to give kids three to five minutes when we do put them in, see what they can do and what they can bring and go from there,” Bollant said. “That would be the one thing for me as a coach is to try and be a little more patient; the (Wesleyan) game was a little tighter than I thought it was going to be and wanted it to be, so I think sometimes you make reactions.”

With that said however, Bollant is a coach that relies heavily on his starters. 

Against Wesleyan the starting five scored 79 of the 86 points, but that has been a strategy he has used effectively for 20 years, he says. His philosophy is that when the game is on the line the best players will be on the court for those moments, whomever they may be. 

Although a tendency to lean on his starters has been Bollant’s forte for a majority of his coaching career, he recognized that the bench needs to do more than provide just seven points on Tuesday. 

“I think (Wesleyan) was Kira’s first game, it was Damonique’s first game here, I think both of them will probably play better on Tuesday,” Bollant said. “I think Carmen (Tellez) is ready to give us a lift as well, and certainly she can give us that scoring punch off the bench, so we will start with those three.”

Redshirt-senior forward Jalisha Smith will follow Arthofer, Miller and Tellez in the rotation after good showings in practice. 

The bench rotation is far from set in stone, however. Arthofer and Tellez will have their spots being chased by freshman guard Jordyn Hughes, who Bollant says is very close to finding herself in increased minutes. 

Oakland City itself is similar to Wesleyan on the court, which means the Panthers will get a good look at just how close they are to fixing their problems for good before the real tough opponents begin to appear on the schedule. 

Oakland City has three seniors on its roster but lost its leading scorer from last season. But, still it is a skilled team that, like Wesleyan, Eastern is not expecting to just roll over. 

JJ Bullock can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]