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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois used runs of 14-2 and 13-0 to blow open a tight game and send the Southeast Missouri women's basketball team to an 82-62 loss at Lantz Arena on Saturday.
The Redhawks (8-12, 2-5 Ohio Valley) dropped their fourth-straight game and lost their eighth-consecutive meeting to the Panthers (12-8, 6-2 OVC).
Southeast grabbed an early 5-4 lead thanks to a
Bailie Roberts three and a
Patricia Mack low-post jumper. From there, EIU scored on seven-straight possessions as part of a 13-3 run to take a 17-8 lead with 14:52 left in the first.
Jordan Hunter responded with a personal 8-0 run, hitting a pair of threes and free throws to pull the Redhawks within 17-16 just over four minutes later.
Baskets by
Brittany Harriel and Hunter pulled Southeast within 21-20 with 7:43 left in the opening stanza. EIU countered with consecutive baskets from Kelsey Wyss and Ta'Kenya Nixon in the next minute to regain a five-point edge. From there, the Redhawks went on an 8-0 run as
Olivia Hackmann canned a jumper, Mack hit a layup and two free throws and Roberts hit a long-range two to make it 28-25 with 4:36 left to play in the half.
The Panthers offered another counterpunch in the form of an 11-2 run, the last six points coming on threes by Wyss and Nixon that put them up 36-30. Undeterred, Southeast whittled the deficit to five points (39-34) at halftime.
Southeast came out of the locker room with a purpose, tying the contest up on a Roberts three and a Harriel layup. The Redhawks half opening run extended to 9-0 as Mack made a layup and Harriel hit a jumper to put them up 43-39. EIU came right back with a 10-2 spurt that made it 49-45 at the 16:03 mark.
The Redhawks got three-pointers from Harriel and
Allyson Bradshaw to pull within 53-51 just past the five minute mark of the second half, but went scoreless for the next four minutes. The Panthers scored the next eight points to go up 61-51 before Roberts' jumper cut the deficit to single digits with 10:13 left. Back-to-back threes by Kaitlyn Paine bumped EIU's lead to 67-53.
Bradshaw's three cut the gap to 11 (67-56) with 7:38 left, but the Panthers' next run put the game away. The Panthers scored 13-straight points over the next four minutes to grab their largest lead of the night at 80-56 with 3:21 left.
Eastern Illinois shot 42.1 percent from the floor while Southeast hit 38.7 percent of its shots. The Panthers made 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) three-pointers against the Redhawks' 8-of-25 (32 percent) mark from beyond the arc. Neither team got to the foul line much with EIU making 10-of-11 (90.9 percent) free throws and Southeast going 6-of-7 (85.7 percent) from the charity stripe. Southeast committed 15 turnovers and EIU had 12 miscues.
The Panthers held a decided 51-31 advantage in rebounding, and outscored the Redhawks 38-18 in the paint and 18-4 on second chance points.
“We had a tough time with Eastern Illinois' size and physicality,” Southeast head coach
Ty Margenthaler said. “They are the top rebounding team in the OVC. To get a win on the road against a team like this you have to rebound with them and we just didn't do that.
“I was really pleased with how we played early in the second half, but they started to wear us out down the stretch. This group has to continue to fight and we have to find a way to win. We can take some good things out of this game, but we have to continue growing from here.”
Roberts tallied a team-high 14 points while Harriel chipped in 13 points. Mack and Hunter were also in double figures with 10 points apiece, with Mack tying a game-high with eight rebounds. EIU's Nixon led all players with 23 points while Mariah King posted 19 and Wyss scored 12.
Southeast returns to the court on Monday when it travels to SIU Edwardsville. Opening tip is at 7 p.m.
