CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois women's basketball team won their preseason exhibition game against Illinois Wesleyan Monday evening. The Panthers used a dominant third quarter to overcome a scrappy Titans squad by a score of 70-67.

IWU came out on fire and drained seven of their first ten shots to open up an early 13-3 advantage over EIU. However, a 9-3 run by the Panthers that included six points from Lalani Ellis cut the deficit to four after the first quarter.

The Titans kept the hot hand in the second quarter and shot over 50% from the field to outscore Eastern by eight points in the frame and take a 12-point lead into the halftime locker room. Ellis scored seven more points in the quarter to bring her first half total to 14 on 4-7 shooting.

Following the break, the Panthers were able to find an offensive rhythm and put together a massive 23-4 run to take their first lead of the game and go up by as many as seven points before Wesleyan cut the lead back to four heading into the fourth. Macy McGlone led the Panthers' offense with ten points in the frame while Lalani Ellis added another seven to her big night.

Eastern grew their lead to eight with four minutes left in the fourth, but a 9-0 run by IWU put the Titans ahead by one with just over two minutes to play. The Panthers stayed steady, however, and outscored Wesleyan 6-2 in crunch time to secure the three-point victory.

Lalani Ellis led all scorers in the game with 26 points on 75% shooting, including a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. She also knocked down five out of seven free throws and pulled down a team second-best eight rebounds as part of her impact performance. 

Macy McGlone also had a solid outing, posting a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Kiyley Flowers joined Ellis and McGlone in double figures with 10 points.

The Panthers open up the regular season at North Dakota on Friday. Tip-off is scheduled for p.m.