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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Eastern Illinois held SIU Edwardsville to only two overtime points as they held on for an 84-78 overtime victory at Vadalabene Center on Thursday night.

Tied at 76 heading into overtime, Hillary Held paced the Panthers (7-7) on both ends of the floor as she scored all four of her points in the contest while grabbing five rebounds, blocking one shot and grabbing a steal. With 31 seconds left, Ta'Kenya Nixon knocked down two crucial free throws to give EIU a six-point lead (82-76) before SIUE got on the board with 24 seconds remaining.

EIU had a 17-point advantage at the 16:41 mark in the second half before the Cougars (2-12) battled to bring the game within five (58-53) with just under eight minutes left in the stanza. SIUE took its first lead of the game with 2:52 remaining by using a 16-9 run before the teams exchanged the lead two times and had two ties. After the Cougars hit a basket with 15 seconds remaining to go up by three, sophomore Kelsey Wyss drained a three-pointer with three ticks left on the clock to take the game into overtime.

The Panthers opened the contest with a 12-0 lead before the Cougars responded at the 15:25 mark. SIUE cut its deficit to seven (17-10) with 12:52 remaining before EIU jumped back out to 12-point advantage (30-18) with just under eight minutes to play in the first half.

The Cougars used a 13-4 run to get within three (34-31) with 3:56 on the clock before the Panthers closed the first stanza on a 9-1 run to take a 43-32 advantage into the locker room.

Nixon paced the Panthers with a season-high 24 points while two other Panthers in Wyss and Sydney Mitchell netted season highs with 19 points and 17 points, respectively.

Held had a team-high nine rebounds while Nixon and Wyss both pulled down six boards each. EIU out rebounded the Cougars by six (43-37).

EIU is back in action at Southeast Missouri State on Jan. 8 at 4 p.m.