PDF Box
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois women's basketball falls 72-57 on the road to Southeast Missouri Saturday afternoon in the Show Me Center. The Redhawks made defensive adjustments at halftime to stop the hot three-point shooting Panthers who connected on 6-of-9 from the arc in the first half. EIU made only two more in the second half, but finished shooting 47 percent from three point range.
EIU falls to 8-11 on the season and 2-6 in the OVC. SEMO wins their third straight to improve to 10-9 overall and 5-3 in conference.
The Panthers took an early 9-2 lead in the first quarter as the teams headed into the first media timeout.
Grace Lennox,
Carmen Tellez, and
Taylor Steele combined for three three-pointers, while
Abby Wahl tallied three steals for EIU on SEMO's four early turnovers.
The Redhawks would come out of the first quarter media time out and go on an 18-0 run holding the Panthers scoreless until the mid-way mark of the second quarter.
Jalisha Smith scored at the 5:27 mark on a layup to spark EIU's offense. The Panthers trailed the Redhawks 34-26 heading into the break.
EIU went on an 11-2 run early in the third quarter to tie the game 38-38 on a free thrown from
Taylor Steele at the 6:08 mark. The Panthers put up 18 points in the third quarter to narrow the Redhawks lead to five points into the final 10 minutes.
The Redhawks would hold the Panthers without a field goal in the first three and a half minutes of the fourth quarter with their only points coming from the charity stripe. Steele would connect on a layup at the 6:17 mark for EIU's first field goal of the quarter. SEMO held on to their lead not allowing EIU to get closer than the five points they trailed to start the fourth.
Steele finished with a team-high 14 points for EIU. Lennox added 12 points on 4-of-8 from the field. She also tallied three assists and two steals.
Karle Pace also recorded double-figures with 10 points, while Smith fell short of a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Tesia Thompson led all-scorers with 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Jocelyn Taylor added 15 points, while Carrie Shepard and Adrianna Murphy scored 11 and 10 points respectively. Losmie Lutaya finished with a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Panthers return home on Thursday Jan. 31 for a 5:15 pm tip-off vs. Eastern Kentucky.