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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIU Edwardsville knocked down 28-of-30 free throws on Saturday afternoon as the Cougars beat Eastern Illinois, 72-55, at the Vadalabene Center.Â
EIU finishes the regular season at 10-19 overall, 7-9 in the OVC. SIUE wrapped the regular season at 18-11 overall, 13-3 in the OVC. EIU will play in the OVC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
EIU held its own in the first half as the Panthers pulled out to a 17-13 lead on back-to-back lay-ups by
Arnisha Thomas and
Bh'rea Griffin with Griffin's lay-up coming at 7:28. Thomas scored seven points off the bench in the first half.
SIUE responded with a 10-0 run on buckets by Donshel Beck and Shronda Butts. Butts led all players with 26 points going 9-of-16 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the foul line.
A 3-pointer by
Alece Shumpert and free throws by
Erica Brown tied the game with 1:02 to play in the half. SIUE closed with a 4-0 run as Butts and CocCo Moore scored. Shumpert led EIU with 11 points going 3-of-9 from 3-point range.
A 3-pointer by Sidney Smith gave the Cougars a seven point lead with 13:18 to play and the lead was extended to ten points when Butts drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 9:36 to play. SIUE was 4-of-7 from 3-point range for the game.
Sabina Oroszova had a free throw after Butts 3-pointer to get the lead back to single digits. Oroszova was held in check by SIUE as she was limited to seven points and six rebounds. She did have three blocks as she needs two blocked shots to tie Rachel Galligan for the EIU career record.
Micah Jones made a pair of free throws with 8:25 to play and EIU never threatened the rest of the game. Jones finished with eight rebounds as SIUE led the battle on the glass by a 44-26 margin.