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CHARLESTON, ILL -- On an afternoon in which the team honored seniors Kira Arthofer, Jordyn Hughes, and Abby Wahl, Eastern Illinois women's basketball defeated the Austin Peay Governors 68-56.  With the win, the Panthers wrap up the regular season with an overall mark of 16-13 and an Ohio Valley Conference record of 11-7. 

"You kind of hope senior night would go that way," said head coach Matt Bollant.  "With Abby and Kira and Jordyn all playing well and getting a sizeable victory against a good team and tying for fourth place in our league, winning our last three with a great crowd here today, and playing really well.  It's kind of the way you picture senior day going, and it was reality today."

The Panthers came roaring out of the starting gate, jumping out to a 9-0 lead behind seven early points from Lariah Washington.  The Governors scored their first points of the game with 4:38 to go in the first quarter, but EIU responded with a Wahl layup followed by two Taris Thornton free throws to extend the lead to 13-2.  The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the period, with EIU scoring on another Wahl layup at the buzzer to take an 18-7 lead after one quarter of action.  Wahl picked up right where she left off, scoring the first bucket of the second quarter to extend the Panther lead to 20-7.  Peay would then use an 8-2 run to pull back to within 22-15 before five straight Julia Bengtson points widened the gap back to 12.  With EIU up 30-19 in the waning seconds of the first half, Austin Peay's Yamia Johnson would hit a three-pointer to cut the Panther lead to 30-22 at halftime.

Peay would continue to fight back in the third quarter, pulling to within a point at 37-36 with 5:43 to go in the period.  After an Arthofer layup, two APSU free throws would again cut the lead to 1, but the Panthers never allowed the Governors to get over the hump, as an 8-0 run highlighted by four more Washington points stretched the lead to 47-38.  Peay continued to make shots, but the Panthers matched them stride for stride, ending the third period with a 51-43 lead.  After a 5-2 Peay spurt cut the lead to 53-48 early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers put the game on ice with a 13-1 run highlighted by six straight points from Wahl that gave them their largest lead of the game at 66-49 with 2:18 remaining.  Austin Peay ended the game on a 7-2 run, but it was too little too late, as the Panthers triumphed by 12.

Wahl and Washington were the stars of the night, each finishing with 20 points.  Washington reached that number on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, while Wahl also grabbed a team-high six rebounds and blocked a shot.  Arthofer continued to show her ability to distribute, as she dished out a season-high 10 assists for the fourth double-digit assist game of her career.  She also recorded seven points, four rebounds, four steals, and a block.

"Lariah's just been really consistent," said coach Bollant.  "Scored 20 on 10 shots.  That's really good basketball.  She's just been so consistent.  Abby Wahl played great today, and then Kira I thought did a great job distributing."

The freshmen were a factor yet again, as Bengtson scored seven points on 3-of-6 shooting and Thornton scored five points at the free throw line to go along with four steals, three rebounds, and her team-leading 13th blocked shot of the season.  Morgan Litwiller contributed with five points and four rebounds while Hughes scored two points and recorded three rebounds.

The Panthers now head to Evansville, Indiana for the 2022 OVC Tournament as the number five seed.  They will play the eighth-seeded Tennessee State Lady Tigers on Wednesday, March 2.  Tipoff is scheduled for 1 pm CT.