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Eastern Illinois had early contributions from seniors Hannah Purcell and Emily Meidel as the Panthers closed out the home regular season schedule with a 80-66 win over SIUE.
 
SIUE took the lead heading into the half 33-30 on a 3-pointer by Sofie Lowis who had 17 points to lead the Cougars.
 
In the third quarter Eastern Illinois made a determined effort to feed the ball inside to Macy McGlone as they scored 26 points in the quarter to build a nine point lead.  McGlone had 12 of her game-high 22 points in the quarter adding 15 rebounds for the game.
 
In the fourth EIU quickly extended the lead to double digits on a Taris Thornton steal and fast-break lay-up. 
 
The Panthers would keep the margin at double digits for a majority of the final quarter.  SIUE had one run midway through the quarter closing to within six points on a jumper by Halle Smith with 5:57 to play cutting the EIU lead to 60-54.
 
Charita "Tiny" Lewis answered with a 3-pointer to end the Cougars threat and EIU cruised to the win improving to 14-16 overall, 11-6 in the OVC.
 
Thornton and Miah Monahan each scored 13 points for the Panthers.   Hannah Purcell made the start after missing most of the season with injury.  She scored four points including the first 3-pointer of the game.   Meidel finished with eight.
 
SIUE had additional double figure scorers in Ava Gugliuzza with 12 points and Brianna Wooldridge with 10 points.  The Cougars were 10-of-23 from 3-point range.   SIUE fell to 5-25 overall, 2-15 in the OVC.