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CHARLESTON, Ill. – The winningest senior class in Eastern Illinois women's basketball's Division I era was victorious on its Senior Recognition Day, as the Panthers outlasted Tennessee State, 79-67, Saturday afternoon at Lantz Arena.
Eastern (21-9, 16-2 OVC) finished the season a flawless 9-0 at home in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Panthers have won nine straight games against TSU (10-17, 7-11 OVC) and will host the Lady Tigers again Tuesday at home in the opening round of the OVC Tournament. It marks the third year in a row the two teams have squared off in the tourney. Eastern has not played the same team in consecutive games since defeating Missouri State twice at the end of the 1986-87 season. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. as game one of an EIU basketball doubleheader.
The Panthers received the OVC regular-season trophy from league commissioner Beth DeBauche after the game.
Freshman Ta'Kenya Nixon scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half to lead the way for EIU.
Dominique Sims finished with 13 points in her final regular-season game at Lantz.
Sydney Mitchell scored 12 points for the fourth time in the month of February and also collected a season-high nine rebounds.
Chantelle Pressley chipped in nine and
Maggie Kloak and
Marie Baker both finished with eight.
Nikki Rumph led TSU with a season-high 20 points. She connected on four of TSU's eight 3-pointers. Oby Okafor added 15 and Jasmin Shuler scored 13 off the bench.
Eastern started all five of its seniors, who have helped lead the program to 74 victories during their careers. Nixon and Pressley came off the bench for the first time this season. With Nixon leading the way, the EIU bench accounted for 48 points – 39 coming from freshmen.
The Panthers were turnover prone, giving the ball away 23 times and TSU scoring 20 points off turnovers. But EIU compensated with a 28-11 scoring edge at the free throw line.
“If we tried to play finesse and cutey-cute, we would have gotten our butts kicked,” EIU head coach Brady Sallee said. “I'm not real sure that we're not better playing like that. We win the battle of the free throw line and win the battle of the boards (45-36), that's a pretty good equation. We were turning the ball over like we got paid for it. I give Tennessee State a lot of credit. I thought they played their tails off. Clearly they had a lot riding on this game and they showed it with a lot of emotion. They had no thoughts other than winning. Not a whole lot of people come in here thinking that way.”
Eastern led the entire second half but the lead did not grow to double figures until the 6:45 mark.
Nixon scored 12 points, including 10 straight points for EIU, over a 4 ½-minute stretch early in the second half. She helped the Panthers withstand a TSU charge during that timeframe. The Lady Tigers pulled within one point at the 14:14 mark. But Nixon raced the ball to the other end of the floor, got fouled and made a pair of free throws. Eastern outscored the visitors 36-25 after TSU made it a one-point game.
The Panthers took the lead for good with a 7-0 spurt in the first half. The Lady Tigers did not score from the field for 10 minutes in the first half. After finally getting back on track offensively, TSU made it a one-possession game five times – twice in the first half and three times early in the second half – but EIU scored next on each occasion until the 43-42 score at the 14:14 mark.
Eastern has reached the championship game of the OVC Tournament each of the last two seasons. The Panthers are the No. 1 seed for the first time as a member of the conference.
