Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, ILL -- Eastern Illinois women's basketball earned a 60-49 home win over the Morehead State Eagles on Wednesday night, snapping a three-game losing streak.  With the win, the Panthers improve to 21-6 overall and 14-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

"We had a lead, up 16, and I felt like we had a chance to put them away, and we kind of let them hang around."  said head coach Matt Bollant.   "But we did enough to win the game."

It was a bit of a slow start offensively for the Panthers, who began the game just 2-of-7 from the field as Morehead State took the early 7-4 lead.  The Panthers then got their groove going, as Taris Thornton and Macy McGlone led the Panthers on a 10-0 run that saw McGlone make the first three-point shot of her career, and Lariah Washington came up with a steal-and-score to push the run to 12-0.  After a basket by the Eagles broke the run, Thornton sank two free throws and Washington hit another jumper to make it 20-9 after one quarter of play.  Two more Thornton free throws and a McGlone layup off of an inbounds pass from Miah Monahan extended the lead to 24-9, but the Eagles used a converted and-one opportunity and a made three-pointer to cut the lead to nine.  Answering the bell, Washington made two jumpers to up the lead to 28-15.  After MSU pulled to within 28-20, the Panthers ended the half on a 7-0 run that was capped by a Monahan three-pointer, making it 35-20 at halftime.

EIU kept Morehead State at arms' length for the duration of the third quarter, getting the lead as high as 17.  Up 44-28 midway through the period, four straight Morehead State points were answered by buckets from Washington and Morgan Litwiller before Morehead State's Sophie Benharouga made a putback layup with time winding down to make it 48-34 going into the final period.  After another Benharouga basket was answered by Thornton on the other end, a 13-5 Eagles run cut the lead to 55-49 with two and a half minutes to play.  Free throws by Thornton and Washington would up the lead back to nine, and a McGlone layup with 43 seconds to go put the game on ice.

Washington led the way with 21 points and nine rebounds to go along with three assists and three steals.  McGlone and Thornton each had 15 points and eight rebounds with McGlone blocking two shots, giving her 37 blocks on the year. 

"It felt good just to get back to winning,"  said Washington.  "Obviously, we had a three game losing streak, so just to be able to pull off this one today feels good and just gives us confidence going into the Saturday game, and obviously the tournament."

Miah Monahan contributed with five points and tied her career high with eight assists, while Litwiller and Ellie Colson each scored a bucket.  Lyric Johnson had five rebounds and Litwiller had four.

With the win, the Panthers have clinched a double-bye in the upcoming OVC Tournament.

"It's cool to be the two seed.  We haven't been that since I've been here."  said Washington.  "So, that's pretty cool to know that we have that secured."

"I think it's a big opportunity for us to show what we can do."  Thornton added.

As a team, EIU accumulated 16 assists on 22 made shots.

The Panthers will conclude the regular season with senior day at Lantz Arena on Saturday, February 25 against Tennessee Tech.  Tipoff is scheduled for 1 PM CT.