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Monday, November 23, 2009 10:26 PM CST
EIU women to take on SMU



CHARLESTON -- Currently in the midst of its busiest stretch of the year, Eastern Illinois women’s basketball team takes on another defending regular-season conference champion when it squares off against SMU Tuesday evening.

Tipoff at Moody Coliseum in Dallas is slated for 7 p.m. The Panthers (1-2) have not played a game in the state of Texas since participating in a four-team tournament hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in November 2001.

A pair of personal homecomings highlights this week’s road games. Dominique Sims returns to her native Texas for the SMU game. Sims attended high school in Wichita Falls, 150 miles northwest of Dallas. Friday’s game at IPFW brings Kelsey Wyss back to Fort Wayne, Ind. The Hoagland native helped Fort Wayne’s Bishop Luers High School win an IHSSA state title in 2006.

Eastern is currently in the midst of a stretch of five games in 10 days. Tuesday’s rematch with the 2009 Conference USA champs is game three of that stretch. The Panthers are slated to play their first seven games of the year in six different states.

Eastern opened the season at Ohio State, the defending Big Ten Conference champions. The Buckeyes won the Preseason WNIT Sunday after defeating Oklahoma State in the championship game. The Panthers are also slated to play the defending Missouri Valley Conference champs, Illinois State, Dec. 22 in Charleston.

Eastern defeated SMU (3-0) in an overtime matinee last season in Charleston, the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Coincidentally, the Mustangs are the first opponent this season that EIU has played before.

SMU welcomed back all five starters from last year’s team that went 20-12, but had to settle for a WNIT berth after losing in the Conference USA Tournament. Christine Elliott (13.7 ppg), Brittany Gilliam (12.3) and Jillian Samuels (11.0) all feature double-figure scoring averages this season after combining for 45 of their team’s 65 points last season in Charleston. Samuels hit the game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation that sent the contest to overtime.

The Panthers, meanwhile, made 11 3-pointers last year in the victory against SMU. Ashley Thomas and Sims each accounted for one 3-pointer, but the rest came from players that have since graduated. Maggie Kloak and Sims both finished with eight points and five rebounds.

SMU’s opponents — Loyola Marymount, Arkansas and New Orleans — have combined for only nine 3-pointers in the first three games this season. The Mustangs are averaging 43 rebounds per game but have surrendered the same number of offensive boards (49) that they have collected.

Eastern Illinois athletics has two notable alumni involved with professional sports in the Dallas area. Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo starred for Panther football from 1999-2002. Schellas Hyndman, a former EIU men’s soccer player and coach, is currently the head coach of Major League Soccer’s FC Dallas franchise. He was the head coach of SMU men’s soccer from 1984-2007.

 


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