2014 EIU Women's Basketball Schedule | 2014 EIU Women's Basketball Roster |

The Eastern Illinois women's basketball season opens in about three weeks and first year Head Coach Debbie Black sat down for a question and answer session to discuss how the preseason work outs have been to date.

The Panthers return seven players from last season with two starting 28 games or more. EIU lost three senior starters that helped the program advance to four straight post-season appearances. Junior forward Sabina Oroszova is the top returning scorer and rebounder for EIU. Oroszova averaged 5.9 points and 7 rebounds per game starting 31 games last season. Katlyn Payne started 28 games last year averaging 5.7 points per game with 48 3-pointers made. The other two veteran players on the squad are senior guard Jordyne Crunk and senior forward Taryn Olson. Crunk averaged 5.8 points per game shooting 85 percent from the free throw line. Olson averaged 2.7 points per game with 2.7 rebounds per game.

EIU opens the regular season on Friday, Nov. 8 at Evansville. The home opener is Tuesday Nov. 12 vs. Indiana State at 7 p.m. in Lantz Arena. Fans can come out and meet the Panthers for the first time this season on Wednesday, Oct. 30 for EIU Blue Madness in Lantz Arena.

The Ohio Valley Conference basketball media day will take place Oct. 22 in Nashville with preseason predicted order of finish and all-conference teams. EIU won the OVC regular season title last season with a 20-12 overall record, 12-4 in the OVC.

Q: What have been your quick observations on the early workouts?
A: It's interesting. We are a unique group. We have some young players, some inexperienced players and a couple of veterans. We are just trying to figure out the combinations of who plays what together. We have some really interesting pieces and it is now my job along with the coaching staff on how to put those pieces together.

Q: Has the intensity been there in practice knowing that jobs are open to be won?
A: Absolutely. When you lose four seniors the girls know that is just a matter of who divides themselves. There is that saying, 'the cream always rises to the top.' That is what we as a coaching staff are waiting for in these early practices. When that division does happen it makes it easier because roles start to become defined. Right now it's a neck and neck race as we are working out not only who is going to start, but also who is going to play.

Q: What type of learning process has this preseason been for the team and coaches?
A: We are completely new. None of the coaches on this staff recruited any of the current players. We don't know them. They don't know us. We are putting in a new style of offense so their whole way of thinking about basketball has been changed. Right now I will give the players some credit that they are picking up fairly quickly what we are trying to implement as our style.

Q: Has there been one or more players that have asserted themselves?
A: It's hard to go past Sabi (Sabina Oroszova) who started for this team last year. She has a lot of tools. She has been the best player for us both during conditioning and on the court. She is a silent leader who I can single out right now.

Q: Are the pieces starting to fall into place for this season?
A: Because we were able to start team practice a little earlier this year we have been able to get a jump on putting in some of our offensive and defensive schemes. It is still a work in progress. I'm a big believer in putting in just a few things and making sure we know how to do them and we do them well before we move onto the next thing. As the weeks go on, we still continue to put in new things while improving on what we have already installed.

Q: How have you stressed the fundamentals to this year's EIU team?
A: They are the building block of any good team. Fundamentals are continually working on the things that you learned as a little kid playing this game. Be a triple threat. Run the lane. Good foot work. Work on strong pivoting. Without those you can't be good at the other things. It's sort of like learning to crawl before you walk.

Q: Have you worked with the team on some of the rule changes for women's basketball, specifically the 10-second backcourt violation rule?
A: We have started to slowly work on that especially with getting the ball in and getting it across the half court line. It is something that I think we can try to use to our advantage on both ends of the floor. I like to get into offense early so we are already teaching that we need to get the ball up the floor quickly and get into our sets. I think teams are really going to use that rule as a weapon this year.