PDF Box |
Photo Gallery (
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois women's basketball team opened conference play at home Thursday night with a 77-71 win over UT Martin. Five players scored in double-figures for the second straight game for the Panthers. Senior guard
Grace Lennox finished with a game-leading 26 points and tallied three rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks.
EIU improves to 7-5 overall and 1-0 in the OVC while UTM falls to 8-4 overall and 0-1 in the OVC.
The Panthers found early success from the field in the first quarter shooting over 35 percent. Lennox and
Carmen Tellez each connected on two three-pointers to carry EIU's offense in the first ten minutes. The Skyhawks closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run led by five points from Brittni Moore off the bench.
To open the second quarter, the Panthers responded with an 11-2 run of their own sparked by a jumper from
Karle Pace in the first 20 second.
Grace McRae connected in the paint and from the arc to finish the half with seven points. EIU led 33-27 heading into the second half.
EIU led by double-figures for most of the third quarter, but a 12-2 run by UTM in the fourth quarter would bring them within four points with a little over five minutes to play.
Taylor Steele connected on two three-pointers later in the quarter to help EIU regain a double-digit lead. Two late threes from Moore and Damiah Griffin would narrow the lead again, but the Panthers secured a 77-71 win over the Skyhawks.
In addition to Lennox's double-figure scoring effort, four other EIU players scored over 10 points in their win.
Carmen Tellez finished with 15 points off the bench. McRae finished with her first career double-double of 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Steele also finished with 13 points for the Panthers on 4-of-8 from the arc, while Pace finished with 10 points.
The Panthers will be back in action this Saturday Jan. 5 vs. SIUE for a 1 pm home match-up.