CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's basketball jumped out to an early advantage and led wire-to-wire, winning its 13th straight game by holding Eastern Kentucky to only 13 field goals, a season low by an Ohio Valley Conference opponent, in a 69-41 final Saturday evening at Lantz Arena.

Ta'Kenya Nixon scored a game-high 18 points, tying an EIU single-game free throw percentage record with a 12-of-12 showing at the charity stripe. She scored 14 of her points in a stretch of just over eight minutes in the second half, including eight in a row at one juncture. The point guard also broke the program's freshman assists record, her top helper being a behind-the-back bounce pass to Dominique Sims for a fast-break layup.

Sydney Mitchell was also perfect (6-of-6) at the free throw line and finished with 10 points, scoring in double figures for the third time in the last four games. Maggie Kloak and Sims both scored nine and Ashley Thomas finished with eight.

The Panthers (18-8, 13-1 OVC) were 26-of-30 at the free throw line and also shot 47 percent from the field, highlighted by a 3-of-4 showing from 3-point land. EIU did not attempt a 3-pointer in the second half.

The choppy game featured a combined 40 fouls and 48 turnovers. Both teams committed 20-plus turnovers but EIU enjoyed a 24-11 in points off turnovers.

 

“The first half was really sloppy and messy, and that's how they like to play,” Thomas said. “Fortunately, we're not too bad at playing that way either. It was a different game than Thursday (a win vs. Morehead State) but it was still a lot of fun and a good game.”

 

“Anytime we hold somebody to 13 total field goals and 41 points, we're going to win every one of those games,” EIU head coach Brady Sallee said. “There's nothing wrong with that. I think the tough thing was the contrast between Thursday's game and Saturday's. Unfortunately, we just don't play Morehead State every week. We play them twice a year and probably this year three times. Teams choose to play us a different way. I don't get caught up in how they play us; I get caught up with how we play them. We had to defend it up and I thought we answered the bell on that part of it pretty well.”

 

Alex Jones and Brittany Coles both scored 13 points to lead EKU (11-14, 7-8). The Lady Colonels were limited to 26 percent shooting from the field and remained winless in Charleston since 2003. The Panthers have won six straight in the series.

 

EIU made seven of its first eight field goal attempts, building an early 16-4 lead, but then went without a field goal for the next seven a half minutes. In fact, both teams did not score from the field for more than six minutes in the first half.

 

The Lady Colonels pulled within seven at 23-16 on a Coles 3-pointer at the 5:23 mark. But EKU only scored one point the rest of the half and did not score again from the field until the 17:51 mark of the second half. The Panthers outscored the visitors 15-1 during the 7 ½-minute field goal drought. Six different EIU players scored during the run that overlapped halftime.

 

Nixon put the game out of reach by accounting for 14 of EIU's 20 points during the eight-minute stretch of the second half. She finally went to the bench for the first time at the 7:27 mark and did not return.

 

“I kept going to the basket instead of stopping and bringing it back out,” Nixon said. “The coaches said the first four minutes of this half will determine the rest of the game. I just kept going to the basket and they didn't stop me.”

 

Thomas and Sims both connected on early 3-pointers during the hot-shooting start. Sims made three field goals and scored seven points in the first five minutes of the contest.

 

EIU has held an opponent below 50 points six times this season, five of those occasions coming during the current program-record win streak.

The Panthers return to action Thursday for a 7 p.m. rematch with UT Martin in northwest Tennessee.

More Info: Contact Ben Turner, Asst. SID