EIU Releases Women's Basketball Schedule

Head coach Matt Bollant enters his fifth season leading the program as the Panthers have made back-to-back OVC Tournament appearances.

Washington along with guard Kira Arthofer who led the OVC in total assists last season. Head coach Matt Bollant enters his fifth season leading the program as the Panthers have made back-to-back OVC Tournament appearances.

EIU will open play with one home exhibition game on Nov. 3 against Illinois Wesleyan as the Panthers will play four early season games in Charleston.
The regular season opener tips on Nov. 9 against Lindenwood (Mo.) at home followed by a quick road trip to Indiana State on Nov. 17. The Panthers then return home for games against Evansville (Nov. 20) and Oakland City (Nov. 22) before the Thanksgiving break.

EIU will spend Thanksgiving in the Islands as the Panthers will play at the University of Hawai’i Tournament on Nov. 26-28 with games against host Hawai’i, Gonzaga and Utah.  The following week this year’s Compass Tournament will be hosted by Western Illinois with EIU facing Southern Illinois in the opening round game on Dec. 3. The Panthers will then play either Northern Illinois or Western Illinois on Dec. 4.

The Panthers play three additional non-conference games in December heading into the holiday break. EIU plays at Loyola-Chicago on Dec. 8 and then after hosting Lipscomb on Dec. 20, travels to Wisconsin on Dec. 23.

This year’s Ohio Valley Conference schedule will be a round-robin format with all ten league teams playing each other in a home-and-home contest.  EIU opens the OVC schedule on Dec. 29 at Morehead State before hosting Belmont on Jan. 1 to ring in the new year.

EIU’s other home OVC dates include Murray State (Jan. 6), SIUE (Jan. 13), Southeast Missouri (Jan. 22), Tennessee State (Jan. 29), Tennessee Tech (Feb. 10), UT Martin (Feb. 12), Morehead State (Feb. 24) and Austin Peay (Feb. 26).

The OVC Tournament will take place March 2-5 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.