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RICHMOND, Ky.  – Junior Ta'Kenya Nixon scored the Panthers final eight points as she tied her career high with 30 points to lift the Eastern Illinois women's basketball team over Eastern Kentucky, 79-76, on Saturday afternoon at McBrayer Arena. EIU closes the regular season with a 22-7 overall record and a 13-3 mark in Ohio Valley Conference action.
 
Trailing 72-71 with 2:04 left in the game, Nixon hit both of her shot attempts down the stretch while going 4-for-4 from the foul line. She sank her final two free throws with 18 seconds on the clock to put EIU up 79-76 before two three pointer attempts by EKU fell short in the game's closing seconds.

Nixon went 7-for-13 from the floor and 15-for-16 from the charity stripe in the Panther victory. The Michigan City, Ind., native also had five assists and three steals while not turning the ball over in 35 minutes of action.
 
The game was back and forth as it had six ties and 18 lead changes. The Lady Colonels hit their first six buckets of the contest and connected on 58.6 percent of their shot attempts in the first stanza to score a season-high 44 points in the first half. EIU trailed 44-40 heading into the locker room.
 
The Panthers took their largest lead of the game in the second stanza, 56-52, on a Sabina Oroszova three pointer at the 13:08 mark before EKU regained the lead on a 5-1 run. Neither team led by more than six points during the game.
 
Two other EIU players scored in double figures as Mariah King added 18 points on 7-for-14 shooting and Kelsey Wyss chipped in 16 points to tie her season high. Chantelle Pressley grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to go along with seven points.
 
The Panthers hit 40 percent of their attempts from the floor, going 22-for-55. EIU also drained 86.1 percent of its free throws, going 31-for-36. The Panthers also scored 16 points off of 17 EKU turnovers and scored 32 points in the paint.
 
Five EKU players scored in double figures led by Marie Carpenter's 15 points. Alex Jones added a game-high nine rebounds to go along with 13 points. The Lady Colonels went 8-for-19 from behind the arc in the loss and 16-for-19 from the foul line.
 
The Panthers return to action on Friday, March 2 at the OVC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., at 2 p.m. against the winner of the No. 3 Tennessee Tech vs No.6 EKU/No. 7 Tennessee State game that will be played on Thursday, March 1 at 2 p.m. EIU has the No. 2 seed and a double-bye in the tournament.