LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Eastern Illinois women's basketball fought back after a lackluster second quarter, but their comeback effort came up just short as the Panthers suffered their third consecutive defeat in a 46-42 road loss to the Little Rock Trojans. With the setback, the Panthers are now 20-6 overall and 13-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Panthers are now two games back from first place in the conference.
"I was really proud of the way we played in the second half. I thought we did the right things to give ourselves a shot." said head coach
Matt Bollant. "I thought we played with a lot of courage and a lot of heart in the second half. Unfortunately, we did not do that in the second quarter, and that quarter cost us."
Both teams lived up to their billing as the two best defensive squads in the conference, as the first quarter ended in an 8-8 tie with the two teams combining to go just 7-of-29 from the field in the period. After the Trojans converted on an and-one opportunity to begin the second quarter,
Macy McGlone hit a layup to break a nearly two minute long scoring drought to make it 11-10. The Trojans then seized the momentum, using an 11-0 run that saw the Panthers miss 10 shots in a row to take a 22-10 lead. A converted and-one from McGlone broke the run, and after an apparent and-one opportunity for Little Rock was overturned following a replay review,
Lyric Johnson's three at the buzzer was off the mark, making the score 22-13 at halftime. As a team, EIU shot just 2-for-15 in the second period.
EIU's offensive funk continued in the third quarter, as Little Rock was able to establish a 26-15 lead. EIU began to find their offensive rhythm with just under four minutes to go in the period, as a three-pointer by
Morgan Litwiller and a driving layup from
Ellie Colson brought the Panthers back to within six. Little Rock used a 6-2 run to push the lead back to double digits, but another McGlone bucket made it 32-24 going into the fourth. The Panthers continued to fight, as McGlone and
Taris Thornton combined to spark a 12-6 EIU run to make it 38-36 with 3:43 remaining. The Panthers were unable to get any closer however, as a Trojans converted and-one made it 45-38 with 1:09 remaining. McGlone made a subsequent layup on the other end and Thornton quickly came up with a steal-and-score, but a Little Rock free throw with nine seconds remaining put the game on ice.
McGlone and Thornton were EIU's go-to scorers, totaling 15 and 13 points, respectively. The two of them combined to scored 16 of EIU's 18 points in the fourth quarter. McGlone also had seven rebounds. Litwiller hit two threes for six points, while Colson had four points and four rebounds off the bench.Â
Lariah Washington scored just two points but grabbed eight rebounds.
The Panthers will begin their final home stretch of the season on Wednesday, February 22 against the Morehead State Eagles. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 PM.