Box Score |
Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Panthers went cold to open the fourth quarter as Austin Peay surged late in the game to win 69-59 Saturday afternoon. Following the loss EIU drops to 5-13 on the year and 1-5 in the OVC while APSU improves to 9-10 and 3-3 in the conference.
Grace Lennox continued her impressive conference play leading all scorers with 22 points and three rebounds.
Sophomore
Brittin Boyer earned her first start of the season against the Governors finishing the game with a career high 18 points adding four rebounds and two steals.
Zharia Lenoir earned her first career start recording four rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one point.
EIU came out of the gates firing to open Saturday afternoon's game going on a 13-2 run capped off by a Boyer layup at the 4:56 mark. APSU managed to keep the Panthers in check as a layup from Brianne Alexander with 22 seconds left in the period closed off a 7-2 run for the Governors to end the quarter.
The Panthers held APSU to 26 percent shooting in the first quarter while EIU shot 47 percent to lead 17-11 at the end of the period.
EIU kept the momentum going in the second period going on an 8-1 run early in the quarter to push their lead to double-digits. A three-pointer from
Allison Van Dyke at the 5:16 mark earned EIU its largest lead of the game as the Panthers went ahead 28-16. Van Dyke finished the game with six points and three rebounds.
The Panthers lead remained around 10 points throughout the rest of the half as a jumper from Tearra Banks in the last seconds of the first half sent both teams into the locker room with EIU leading 34-25.
The Panthers finished the first half shooting 51.7 percent from the floor with Lennox already in double-figures with 14 points.
The second half was a different story as the Governors chipped away at EIU's lead utilizing a 7-0 run capped off by a layup from Keisha Gregory at the 6:09 mark to tie the game 38-38. EIU regained their lead thanks to back-to-back buckets from Boyer, but APSU would answer with an 8-2 run to earn their first lead of the game 46-44 with 3:00 minutes left in the third quarter. The Panthers managed to head into the fourth quarter with a slim 50-48 lead following a pair of free throws from Lennox with 23 seconds to go in the quarter.
Austin Peay took control in the early stages of the fourth quarter going on a 14-1 run as the Panthers went cold from the floor. The Panthers did not make a bucket until the 3:33 mark as the jumper from Lennox halted the Governors run with the score of 63-52. Lennox scored six of EIU's nine points in the fourth quarter as APSU out-scored the Panthers 21-9 in the final period to earn the 69-59 win.
EIU shot 28 percent in the fourth quarter finishing the game with a 46.4 field-goal percentage.
Erica Brown recorded eight points and seven rebounds against APSU.
Three Governors finished the game in double-figures led by Banks with 16 points and six rebounds.
The Panthers now look ahead to UT Martin as EIU plays hosts to the Skyhawks Wednesday (Jan. 18) at 6 p.m.