Reigning Ohio Valley Conference women’s basketball player of the year Macy McGlone and defensive player of the year Kiyley Flowers have both graduated. Eastern Illinois women’s basketball now must regroup and try to replace these players.  

Eight out of the 15 players on the EIU roster have not played a regular season game with the Panthers.   

“My big thing was I didn’t want to go into a rebuild year by just bringing in five freshmen,” head coach Marqus McGlothan said. “And so strategically we made sure we attacked the portal.”  

Two of these new players, redshirt sophomore Abbie Boutilier and redshirt junior Meioshe Mason, are both centers to replace McGlone.  

However, McGlothan said that they can never replace the 6-foot-4-inch center.  

“Macy [McGlone] broke a lot of records here. So, if I’m sitting here waiting on another Macy, I might be waiting until my time is done,” McGlothan said. “And so, for us, it’s just moving on and looking forward to what Meioshe and what Abbie are gonna bring.”  

Boutilier is 6 feet, 10 inches, the tallest player in Division I. She transferred to Eastern after being injured for the past two seasons at University of Texas.   

Mason is 6 feet, 4 inches and transferred from Middle Tennessee State University. She only played nine games over her three years there.  

Last season Eastern started conference play a perfect 10-0 but slowly slid down the standings as it finished the regular season in third. It then lost its first matchup to Western Illinois in the playoffs.  

“We fell short of that goal last year,” McGlothan said. “Still feel like we had a pretty good season, but at the end of the day, we still failed from what our ultimate goal was.”  

The ultimate goal was the same last year as it is every year: to win the conference.   

Redshirt junior forward Ella Lune said that the team has to work on the small details to reach that goal.  

Lune said the team is focusing on details and doing everything to 100 percent of the team’s ability. 

On Oct. 23, Eastern played an exhibition game against Illinois Wesleyan, which Eastern won 60-54. However, Eastern came out with a very different starting lineup than last year in that game.   

The starters consisted of transfer junior guards Ava Stoller and Clara Glad, returning forward Lune and the two transfer centers.   

Returning junior guard Lalani Ellis did not play as she is injured with a boot on her foot. McGlothan said that he expects her back very soon.  

The exhibition game was also the first collegiate game for some on the team. Stoller said that the game was a good warmup for the team.  

“Getting that first game under our belt, working together, seeing how each other plays really helps. So just building the team chemistry in the long run will help us a lot,” Stoller said.  

After Eastern’s home opener against Drake University, the Panthers go on the road for eight games straight before finishing the out of conference schedule at home.   

Eastern starts its conference play on Dec. 18 at home against SIUE.  

“I’m trying to be undefeated, and I’m trying to get a ring,” Mason said.  

Eastern starts regular season play against Drake in Groniger Arena at noon on Nov. 3.