CHARLESTON, Ill. – Rachel Galligan led three Panthers in double-figures with 20 points, scoring her team's first 10 points of the second half, as Eastern Illinois women's basketball outlasted Austin Peay, 81-70, in Ohio Valley Conference action Saturday afternoon at Lantz Arena.

Eastern (6-3, 2-0 OVC) led 42-28 at the intermission and by as many as 19 early in the second half, but the Lady Govs (3-5, 1-1 OVC) rallied to make it a six-point game with 2:15 remaining. However, EIU never trailed en route to its 11th straight victory at Lantz.

Lindsey Kluempers made four free throws in the final minute to help seal the win. The Panthers also got a key putback basket from Dominique Sims and a key blocked shot from Ellen Canale in crunch time.

 

Austin Peay's Ashley Herring led all scorers with a career-high 33 points, connecting on 10 field goals and 11 free throws.

Sims finished with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists. Megan Edwards added 11 points.

 

“Dominique hit some big shots, played some big minutes for us,” EIU head coach Brady Sallee said. “She played like an upperclassman should. She came through big for us. We got tough and started going to the rim.”

 

Canale was hampered by foul trouble the entire game and eventually fouled out. But she made the top defensive play of the game when she blocked a runner by Salem Richardson in the lane as APSU was looking for a four-point trip down the floor with 3:27 left in the game. Canale also made three free throws in the final three minutes, allowing EIU to keep it a three-possession game at the time.

 

The Panthers led by six when Sims rebounded a missed shot by Galligan and scored on a putback with 1:39 remaining. It turned out to be EIU's final field goal of the contest.

Eastern shot 54 percent (27-of-50) from the field and 88 percent (21-of-24) at the free throw line, but came up on the wrong end of a 16-9 turnover margin. Both teams connected on six 3-pointers.

 

The second half featured quite a bit of back-and-forth action as the two teams exchanged runs. After EIU opened the second half with an 8-3 spurt to take its 19-point lead, APSU responded with a 16-4 run. With the advantage down to seven with 11:13 remaining, the Panthers counterpunched with a 9-3 spurt. Austin Peay came right back with a 14-6 surge, making it a six-point game.

 

“Austin Peay plays hard, they play physical,” Sallee said. “They make you play in ways that take you out of your comfort zone a little bit. Just with the way the game went, it was a circus. It's hard for anybody to play in that type of a game, but we gutted it out.”

 

Eastern took control of the game early by connecting on each of its first seven field goal attempts. Canale and Edwards (twice) both hit 3-pointers during the hot start. A 12-2 run gave EIU a 12-point lead with seven minutes gone by.

 

Sims later connected on a pair of 3-pointers during a 12-4 EIU run that led to the 14-point halftime lead.

 

Nine of the 10 Panthers that saw action scored. Eastern enjoyed a 23-12 advantage in bench scoring. Ashley Thomas and Maggie Kloak accounted for 17 of those 23 points.

The Panthers continued their four-game homestand Wednesday when they host SIU Edwardsville for non-conference action Wednesday at 7 p.m.

More Info: Contact Ben Turner, Asst. SID