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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Sophomores Mariah King and Ta'Kenya Nixon both had career nights from the floor to lead Eastern Illinois over Morehead State, 80-75, on Thursday afternoon at Ellis T. Johnson Arena.

King scored a career-high 24 points to go along with a career-high nine rebounds. Nixon tied her career-high with 25 points while recording her seventh double-double of the season, grabbing 10 rebounds.

All knotted at 65 with 5:42 left in the game, the Panthers (13-11, 8-5 OVC) used a 15-5 run to take their largest lead of the game with 45 seconds remaining on the clock. EIU's defense held Morehead State (17-8, 10-4 OVC) to only one field goal during the run, holding on to win its eighth conference victory and move into a tie for fourth place with Austin Peay. The Eagles scored five points in the final 13 seconds of the contest to make the final score, 80-75.

The first half saw Morehead State jump out to an early 17-8 lead before the Panthers rattled off 11 consecutive points to take their first lead of the game, 19-17, at the 10:49 mark. The half was tied seven more times before a Courtney Lumpkin three-point basket as time expired gave the Eagles a 39-36 advantage heading into intermission.

EIU out rebounded the Eagles by 20 (49-29) in the contest and saw five different players record at least five rebounds. Nixon paced EIU with 10 rebounds while King added nine. Sydney Mitchell grabbed eight rebounds and Chantelle Pressley pulled down six.

Nixon was perfect from the floor, going 9-for-9 from the floor and 7-for-7 from the charity stripe for her 25 points. Mitchell added 10 points and Jordyne Crunk chipped in eight.

The Panthers scored 44 points in the paint to Morehead State's 16. EIU also scored 18 second chance points in the contest off 14 offensive rebounds.

EIU shot 49.2 percent from the floor and was 19-for-22 from the foul line, connecting on 86.4 percent of its shots from the charity stripe.

Lumpkin led the Eagles with 22 points while Chynna Bozeman added 18. Morehead State was 13-for-41 from behind the arc and shot 36.1 percent from the floor (26-for-72).

EIU returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 12 at Eastern Kentucky. Game time is set for 3 p.m.