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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Mariah King and Ta'Kenya Nixon combined to score 43 points but that accounted for just about all of Eastern Illinois offense as the Panthers fell 65-58 at Tennessee Tech on Sunday afternoon. 

The early season Ohio Valley Conference game matched two of the premier conference guards going head-to-head with EIU's Nixon and Tacarra Hayes of TTU. Nixon finished with 22 points leading all players while Hayes led the Golden Eagles with 19. 

TTU finished with a plus nine rebound advantage but 20 of their 49 rebounds were offensive rebounds which turned into 16 second chance points. Hayes had 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double while Brittany Darling gave the Panthers fits at 6'5” as she finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds. 

The Panthers scored the first points of the game on a pair of Nixon free throws but that proved to be the only lead of the game for EIU. TTU slowly pulled away to lead 14-6 behind four points from Hayes. Rachel Glidden knocked down a 3-pointer at 5:33 to push TTU's lead to nine points at 23-14. 

After trailing 34-26 at the break EIU quickly fell behind by 12 points on a Kellie Cook 3-pointer followed by a Hayes lay-up. King helped the Panthers work their way back into contention hitting a lay-up and pair of free throws to trim the lead to six points at 53-47 with 4:40 remaining. Nixon knocked down a 3-pointer with 52 seconds left to cut TTU's lead to five but EIU could never get it below a two possession game. 

King matched her career high with 21 points hitting 9-of-16 from the floor. EIU was only 17-of-25 from the free throw line and 1-of-8 from 3-point range. TTU was 6-of-22 from 3-point range and 15-of-21 from the stripe. 

EIU fell to 5-6 on the season, 1-2 in the OVC. The Panthers will wrap up its two-game OVC trip on Tuesday night at Jacksonville State. TTU improved to 7-2, 2-0 in the OVC.