NASHVILLE, TENN -- Eastern Illinois women's basketball survived a stout defense from a game Tennessee State Lady Tigers squad en route to a 63-58 road win on Thursday evening. With the win, the Panthers improve to 15-3 overall and 7-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
After TSU drew first blood,
Morgan Litwiller set the tone early for the Panthers, hitting two quick threes which were followed up by a
Lariah Washington jumper in the lane to give EIU an early 8-2 advantage. The Lady Tigers responded by turning up their pressure, forcing five EIU turnovers over a span of two-and-a-half minutes while using a 7-0 run to retake the lead. The Panthers responded with a 13-4 run that was capped by a
Lyric Johnson layup to take a 21-13 lead. TSU's Ashley Malone hit a three-pointer in the waning seconds of the period to make it 21-16 going into the second quarter. After Washington hit the first shot of the second quarter to up the lead back to seven, the game became a defensive stalwart as four minutes passed with only two buckets from either side. The cold streak was finally broken when Litwiller and TSU's Saniah Parker traded two threes apiece to make it 31-24. She then drilled her fifth three of the half and Washington then found an open
Taris Thornton on the other end following a defensive stop to give EIU a 36-24 advantage. TSU's Erica Haynes-Overton responded with a layup to make it 36-26 at halftime after the final 2:16 of the quarter ended with zero points.
With EIU up 41-30 midway through the third, TSU began their comeback, pressing their way to a 9-1 run to pull within three at 42-39. Thornton and
Hannah Purcell would answer with back-to-back driving layups to up the lead back to seven going into the fourth quarter. With EIU up 50-43 two minutes into the final period, Haynes-Overton would hit a jumper and then convert on a steal-and-score to cut EIU's lead back down to three. Thornton, however, would answer the bell once more, using a smooth move to drive to the bucket for a layup and then hitting on two free throws to put EIU up seven once more. Following a Litwiller layup, TSU used their press to once again cut it to five, but Litwiller hit her seventh three-pointer of the game to make it 59-51 with 3:35 remaining. Parker responded with a three of her own for the Lady Tigers, but EIU was able to get the necessary stops and hit their free throws down the stretch en route to a 63-58 win.
Litwiller led the way offensively for the Panthers, scoring a season-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 7-of-9 from three-point range. Her seven made threes tie both her career high and the EIU school record for most three-pointers in a game by a single player. She also contributed seven rebounds. Thornton came off the bench to score 15 points, many of which came in key moments of the game when TSU had cut the lead to one possession, and grab five rebounds.
"I thought Taris gave us a really good lift,"Â said coach
Matt Bollant. "We were struggling to score there, [and] she did some really good things, [she] got to the rim, and got to the foul line as well. I'm proud of Taris, she stepped up in that second half."
Washington scored eight points and dished out four assists, while
Macy McGlone scored six points and grabbed 12 rebounds for her seventh double-digit rebounding effort of the season. Purcell had 4 points on a perfect 2-of-2 shooting while
Julia Bengtson came off the bench to drain a three. Despite not scoring,
Miah Monahan still distributed seven assists.
As a team, the Panthers accumulated 15 assists on 23 made shots.
Up next, the Panthers will conclude their volunteer state swing with a road matchup against UT Martin on Saturday, January 21 at 1 PM CT.