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MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Marquette held the three true Panther post players to a combined two points and Eastern Illinois women's basketball also committed a season-high 30 turnovers, suffering a season-ending loss in the first round of the WNIT, 85-56, Thursday evening at the Al McGuire Center.
The Panthers closed their Ohio Valley Conference championship season with a 23-11 record, winning 20 games for the second year in a row and earning a national postseason berth for the first time since 1988.
Ta'Kenya Nixon led EIU with 17 points. Madeline Kish scored a career-high 10 points off the bench. Ashley Thomas connected on a pair of 3-pointers to finish her career with 130, good for fourth on the program's all-time list.
Every Marquette (17-15) player that saw action scored, four finishing in double figures. Sarina Simmons led the way with 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Angel Robinson had 12 points and accounted for nine of the Golden Eagles' 22 assists.
Marquette advances to play the winner of Friday's Illinois-Western Kentucky game in the second round of the WNIT.
Eastern never led after MU jumped out to an early 9-2 lead. But the Golden Eagles blew the game open with a 16-0 run in the first half. It took Marquette only three minutes to score the 16 consecutive points. That surge turned a nine-point game into a 25-point affair.
The Panthers responded with an 11-2 spurt over the 2 ½ minutes but were unable to cut the deficit into single digits the rest of the way. Kish and Thomas both connected on a 3-pointer during EIU's most productive offensive stretch of the first half.
Eastern did not help its cause by making only 6-of-12 free throws in the first half and 13-of-23 for the game. Marquette was 20-of-27 at the line and also shot 48 percent from the field, attempting 11 more shots from the field than the Panthers.
The highlight of the second half for EIU was a four-point play by Nixon at the 11:05 mark. She connected on a 3-pointer in transition and was fouled on the shot. The ensuing free throw was the final point of a 13-0 run. But it came on the heels of Marquette opening the second half with a 17-3 surge.
Nixon accounted for eight of the 13 points during the Panthers' best stretch of the second half. Kish also connected on a 3-pointer and Chantelle Pressley scored EIU's first points of the game in a true post position.
The 30 turnovers were the most since the Panthers committed 32 in a January 2005 loss at Southeast Missouri State.
Eastern will have to bid adieu to five seniors – Marie Baker, Maggie Kloak, Dominique Sims, Lauren Sturtevant and Thomas. All five Panthers played in their final collegiate game Thursday. As a group, they helped lead EIU to 76 victories during their careers, making them the winningest senior class of the program Division I era (1983-present). This season, Eastern won its first-ever OVC regular-season title and made its first appearance in the WNIT.
The Panthers are slated to return eight players for the 2010-11 season, all of whom were underclassmen this year. Eastern is not expected to have a senior on the roster next season.
