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CHARLESTON, ILL -- Eastern Illinois women's basketball overcame a six-point 4th quarter deficit for the second consecutive game en route to a 63-57 home win over the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.  With the win, the Panthers improve to 18-3 overall and 10-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

"Our players can step up.  It's great to have talented kids."  said coach Matt Bollant.  "[It's] good to have talented players that just take it upon themselves and find a way to go get it done."

The Panthers got some early separation as a SEMO basket to begin the game was answered by a 6-0 Panther run.  Foul trouble then began to mount up for the Panther bigs as SEMO took the lead right back with a 5-0 run.  After a back-and-forth stretch, SEMO led 13-12 going into the second quarter.  Taris Thornton got EIU back out in front to begin the second quarter, scoring five points as part of a 10-4 run that was capped by a Lariah Washington three-pointer.  After going up 24-19, the Panthers endured an offensive drought in which they did not hit a shot from the field for the remaining 5:22 of the half, allowing the Redhawks to get back to within a point at halftime, 31-30.  

Miah Monahan and Lyric Johnson hit back-to-back shots to begin the third quarter, upping EIU's lead back to five.  The game then tightened right back up, as an 8-0 Redhawks run gave SEMO a 38-35 lead.  Washington answered with a three pointer, but back-to-back buckets by SEMO's Kennedi Watkins put EIU in a four-point hole.  After another stretch of no field goals from either side, Monahan hit a jumper from the wing to tie the game 43-43 going into the fourth quarter. 

The final period began with SEMO using a 6-0 run to take a 49-43 lead with 7:05 remaining.  EIU once again answered the bell in crunch time however, as Macy McGlone's first bucket of the game sparked a 13-0 run where five straight Thornton points were followed by six straight points from Washington to give EIU a 56-49 lead with just under three minutes remaining.  SEMO's Rahmena Henderson hit a three to cut it to four, but McGlone responded once again, hitting a layup off a pass from Monahan to up the lead back to six.  Henderson would twice cut it to four in the final seconds, but Johnson and Morgan Litwiller were able to hit the key free throws down the stretch to put the game away.

"Going into that fourth quarter, we knew we needed to score, we knew we needed to defend,"  said Washington.  "So, I was just telling everyone 'have confidence, and just do what we know we can do.'"

Washington had 25 points and seven rebounds for her ninth 20+ point performance of the season and the 23rd of her career.  Johnson scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds, and blocked two shots while McGlone grabbed 11 rebounds for her seventh double-digit rebounding effort of the season and blocked four shots for the third time this season.  Litwiller scored five and also had two blocks, while Monahan had four points and six assists.

Coming off the bench, Thornton scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting for her sixth double-digit scoring effort of the season and her third 15+ point effort of the season.

"I just felt like I needed to step up,"  said Thornton.  "Just bring energy for the team."

The Panthers blocked a total of eight shots, the most in a game in the Matt Bollant era. 

Up next, the Panthers will head on the road to take on the Lindenwood Lions on Thursday, February 2.  Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 PM.