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CHARLESTON, ILL -- Eastern Illinois women's basketball suffered their first defeat of the 2022-23 season in a 71-69 loss to NIU.  With the loss, the Panthers drop to 6-1 overall on the season.

"Unfortunately, we dug ourselves a hole against a real good team,"  said head coach Matt Bollant.  "I thought we played a really good second half and gave ourselves a shot to come back and win."

It was a rough start for the Panthers, as EIU found themselves in an early 10-2 hole.  Back-to-back layups from Miah Monahan cut it to four, but NIU widened the gap back to eight before three-pointers by Monahan and Lariah Washington cut it to 14-12.  An NIU basket by Chelby Coker made it 16-12 at the end of the first quarter.  Five straight points from Coker to start the second quarter made the Huskie lead 21-12.  Washington scored four straight to cut the deficit to five, but NIU was able to stretch the lead back to 26-18.  EIU drew back to within 1, but a 12-3 NIU run to end the half made it 38-28 at halftime.

The Panthers found their offensive groove in the second half, beginning the third quarter with an 11-3 run that was capped by a Morgan Litwiller three-pointer.  The Huskies responded with an 11-4 run to up their lead back to nine at 52-43.  Hannah Purcell then made a layup, which was followed by Monahan finding Jackie Maulucci all the way down at the other end for a converted and-one to make it a four-point game going into the fourth quarter.

The two teams traded baskets for the first three minutes of the final stanza before a Washington steal and layup tied things up at 58.  Following a defensive stop, Monahan was fouled and subsequently went 1-for-2 at the free throw line to give the Panthers their first lead of the game.  Another Coker bucket gave NIU the lead back before Macy McGlone made a layup and got fouled to give EIU the lead back.  After a missed free throw, NIU's A'Jah Davis converted an and-one opportunity at the other end to give the Huskies a 63-61 lead and then made another layup following a Monahan miss to put EIU in a four-point hole.  A converted Washington jumper was answered by two Davis free throws before back-to-back 1-for-2 trips to the line by Taris Thornton and McGlone cut the lead to two.  Following McGlone's miss, Thornton came up with a big offensive rebound, but McGlone went 0-for-2 in a subsequent trip to the free throw line.  After a defensive stop, Washington and Davis traded baskets before another jumper from Washington tied it up at 69 with 20 seconds remaining.  Koker made a pull-up jump shot with three seconds to go that proved to be the game-winner, as EIU was unable to get a shot off in their final possession.

"Our fight was huge,"  said Litwiller.  "I think that says a lot about our team, that even if you get up on us, we're not going to ever back down."

Monahan scored 12 points, 11 of which came in the first half, and had five rebounds to go along with four assists and three steals.  Macy McGlone scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and had five rebounds to go along with a career-high four blocks.  Julia Bengtson had five points and four rebounds, while Litwiller scored five points and had five rebounds.

Playing all 40 minutes for the Panthers, Washington led all scorers with 30 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the field.  She also contributed five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. 

"[J]ust knowing that we can come back from stuff like that is encouraging to know in case we do get in that situation,"  said Washington.  "But, we've just got to fix it and play a full game."

As a team, EIU had 15 assists on 27 made shots.

The Panthers will look to bounce back with another home game on Tuesday, December 6.  The Panthers will take on the Bradley Braves with tipoff scheduled for 6:00 PM CT.