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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois lone senior Erica Brown ended her home career with a 23 points and 14 rebounds on Wednesday night but it was not enough as Murray State beat EIU, 66-57, in Lantz Arena.
 
EIU dropped to 8-18 overall, 4-10 in the OVC.  The Panthers will play their final two OVC games on the road.  Murray State improved to 15-11, 7-6 in the OVC.
 
Brown scored ten of her points in the opening half as the Panthers trailed 30-29.  EIU's defense held the Racers in check as they shot 33 percent for the opening half.  MSU used a 13-6 rebounding edge in the second quarter to stake the Racers to the one point lead.
 
The Panthers played a box-and-one defense against Murray State with Grace Lennox drawing the assignment against the league's top scorer, Ke'Shunan James.  Lennox limited James to just five points, well below her average of 19.9 points per game.
 
James did contribute in other ways finishing with 13 rebounds as the Racers ended the night with a 48-39 rebound edge.  They converted 13 offensive rebounds into 13 second chance points.
 
Murray State led EIU by one points, 45-44, after three quarters of action. 
 
In the final quarter Murray State opened with a 7-1 run that pushed the Racer lead to 52-45 with 7:38 to play as Bria Bethea knocked down a pair of free throws.  EIU would cut the lead down to three points on back-to-back lay-ups by Brown with 6:08 to play and again on a jumper by Brittin Bower on the baseline with 4:08 to play.
 
Each time EIU challenged in the final quarter, Murray State answered by getting to the foul line.  The Racers were 12-of-14 from the foul line in the final quarter and 17-of-22 for the game. Bethea led Murray State in scoring with 22 points.  LeAsia Wright had 14 points.  Kyra Gulledge had a double-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds while Abria Gulledge rounded out the Racers double figure scorers with 10.
 
Lennox had 18 points and eight rebounds for EIU.