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NASHVILLE – Eastern Illinois competed early but a late first half run by No. 1 seed UT Martin carried the Skyhawks to a 68-35 win over the Panthers on Wednesday afternoon during the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament at Municipal Auditorium.

EIU ends the season at 10-20.  UT Martin advances to the semifinal round on Friday after winning their 17th game in a row to improve to 21-9. 

UT Martin jumped out to a 5-0 run with buckets by Tiara Caldwell and Ashia Jones in the low block.  The Skyhawks would finish with a 32-16 points in the paint advantage. 

The Panthers closed the gap and took a 13-10 lead on a lay-up by Bh'rea Griffin with 10:40 to play in the first.  Shakita Cox scored five points off the bench in the Panthers 13-5 run.

UT Martin closed the half on a 23-6 run with Jones scoring 11 points to close the half.  Jones finished with 30 points going 10-of-16 from the floor and 10-of-12 from the field.  Katie Schubert and Jessy Ward added 3-pointers for the Skyhawks as they led 33-19 at the half.

The Skyhawks held EIU with four points to open the second half as they took control of the game.  EIU had a 3-pointer by Alece Shumpert in the first minute and a free throw by Phylicia Johnson.  EIU's next field goal would come with 12:07 to play on a Johnson 3-pointer with UTM leading by 30 points at the time.

Johnson led EIU with eight points.  Shumpert had six.  Sabina Oroszova had eight rebounds and one block as she fell one block short of tying Rachel Galligan for the school record for career blocks.

Caldwell and Ward finished in double figures for UTM.  Caldwell was 6-of-8 from the floor with 15 points and Ward had 12 points.