Before that 44-point outbreak by Mariah Robinson last week Murray State's sophomore had games of five and eight points.

But Eastern Illinois women's basketball coach Brady Sallee fears that the days of Robinson just being another player are gone.

"She had 19 the next game," Sallee said. "I don't know if you can chalk it up to an aberration. She could always score. Maybe with this team she needs to score a little more. Maybe she learned she had to get a little selfish and get mine so her team can succeed."

Sallee's Panthers are looking to slow down the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week in order to stay near the front of the league race.

Maybe few of the players from this EIU team with no seniors and four sophomore starters do not recall that these two programs played for an OVC tournament championship in 2008 and regular season title in 2009.

Fresh in the Panthers' minds has to be Saturday's 77-73 loss to Morehead State snapping a streak of 12 straight home-court OVC wins while dropping Eastern, 9-8 overall, to third in the league standings at 5-2.

Murray State is 5-12 overall and 1-6 for next to last in the league while trying to rebuild.

"I guess there's not the same hype of the game but for us, we're going to go down and play our tails off," Sallee said. "The thing we're worried about is rebounding, defending the ball and taking care of the ball. If we do those things we should be OK.

"It's interesting I don't know if their record looks the same but their team does - a lot of quick guards; they can shoot it; they run a lot of isolation plays."

Emerging as the big scorer is Robinson, a 5-foot-8 sophomore who hit nine of 14 3-pointers recording this season's highest scoring OVC game of 44 in Murray State's 80-66 win Thursday at Jacksonville State. She followed with 19 points in Saturday's 77-61 loss to league-leading Tennessee Tech.

Now averaging 14.3 points, Robinson spends time at several positions.

Who guards the player with the hottest hand in the OVC?

"It's just going to be where they're playing everybody," Sallee said. "If they move her to 1 clearly Ta'Kenya (Nixon) will guard her. If she is at the 2, it will probably be Kelsey (Wyss). If she slides to the 3, Sydney (Mitchell) will get a shot. Hopefully, that way we can stay fresh with everybody guarding her."

EASTERN ILLINOIS (9-8, 5-2)

AT MURRAY STATE (5-12, 1-6)

Tip-off: 5:15 p.m. today at CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

Radio: WEIU Hit Mix FM-88.9

Probable Eastern Illinois starters: forwards-Sydney Mitchell, 6-1 so. (9.0 points, 5.9 rebounds per game); Chantelle Pressley, 6-1 jr. (9.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg); Mariah King, 6-2 so. (12.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg); guards-Ta'Kenya Nixon, 5-8 so. (15.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg); Kelsey Wyss, 5-10 so. (9.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg)

Probable Murray State starters: forwards-Jessica Winfrey, 5-10 r-fr. (9.8 points, 8.5 rebounds per game); Mary Jehlik, 6-3 fr. (5.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg); center-Kayla Lowe, 6-1 jr. (11.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg); guards-Tessa Elkins, 5-5 so. (5.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg); Mariah Robinson, 5-8 so. (14.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg)

Notes: Eastern Illinois freshman Jordyne Crunk's .500 3-point shooting percentage, 7-for-14, in seven Ohio Valley Conference games is the best in the league. Nixon continues to lead the OVC in assists with 5.5 per game while ranking fourth in scoring and eighth in rebounding. . .Last season Eastern Illinois beat Murray State 64-57 at Charleston and then 76-71 at Murray, Ky., to clinch an Ohio Valley Conference championship. Murray State still leads the series 22-12. . .Eastern has 4 p.m. Saturday game at UT Martin before playing host to Tennessee Tech at 5:30 p.m. a week from today at Lantz Arena.

Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-t.com or 238-6856.