Final Box
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois women's basketball beat Oakland City 102-43 at home in their season opener Tuesday night in Lantz Arena. All 14 players who saw time on the court scored for the Panthers. EIU is off to a 1-0 start on the season.
The Panthers opened the game shooting 47.6 percent from the field in the first quarter led by
Grace McRae and
Jennifer Nehls who both finished 2-of-2 from the field. The Panthers outscored the Might Oaks 21-10 in the first 10 minutes of play.
In the second quarter, EIU went on a 16-3 run in the first six minutes of play highlighted by seven points from
Carmen Tellez. Tellez connected on two field goals including one three-pointer and hit two free throws for the Panthers. Tellez would finish the game with 13 points and went 3-of-5 from the arc.
EIU entered the second half leading OCU 51-19.
Grace Lennox opened the third quarter with back-to-back buckets connecting on a layup and a three-pointer. The Panthers finished the quarter shooting 5-of-9 from the arc including two late three's from
Danielle Berry and
Carmen Tellez to give EIU 78-26 lead into the final 10 minutes. Lennox's three-pointer at the 8:31 minute mark would make her the 24th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. She finished the game with nine total points and currently sits at 1,004 career points.
The Mighty Oaks put up 17 fourth quarter points led by Sarah Dudzinski, but the Panthers held on to a dominating 102-43 win.
Four EIU players finished in double-figure scoring.
Carmen Tellez scored a game leading 13 points, while
Taylor Steele added 12 points. Berry and
Jordyn Hughes each finished with 10 points. Nehls led both teams with 10 boards and
Jalisha Smith grabbed another eight rebounds for the Panthers.
EIU dominated the paint 44-22 and saw great production from their bench who tallied 61 of their 102 points.
Camino Tellez connected on 2-of-2 from three point range for EIU finishing with eight points.
Kayla Sandford finished with a team high eight points for OCU, while Shannon Pittman tallied seven points and four rebounds.
The Panthers will be on the road vs. Butler later this week. Tip-off is set for 11 am CT on Friday Nov. 9.