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Western Illinois put together several second half runs on the Thursday night with the final one finally breaking through against Eastern Illinois as WIU picked up a 64-54 win at Western Hall.
Macy McGlone pulled down ten first half rebounds breaking the EIU single season rebounding record in the final seconds of the first quarter. She finished the game with 14 points and 13 rebounds, posting her 25th double-double this season.
EIU held WIU to 27 percent shooting in the opening half but a 4-of-8 half from 3-point range kept the Leathernecks in the game and handed them the 28-25 lead at the half. Addi Brownfield was 2-of-2 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes scoring ten first half points. Brownfield finished with 12.
Western Illinois would use an 11-0 run midway through the third quarter to go up 42-31 with 3:58 left in the quarter. Raegan McCowan scored seven of her 18 points for the game during the Leathernecks run. Â
McGlone would stop the WIU run with free throws with 3:47 to play, EIU cutting the double digit Western Illinois lead down to 46-43 at the end of the third.Â
Sydney-James Desroches had a pair of 3-pointers for the Panthers late in the quarter. Desroches scored nine points off the bench.
In the fourth quarter the teams again exchanged runs with Western Illinois pulling out to a nine-point lead after a Alissa Dins basket in the paint. EIU cut that lead down to three on back-to-back 3-pointers by
Ellie Buzzelle and
Emily Meidel.
Down the stretch, each time EIU made a run to get into the game, WIU had an answer as the Leathernecks improved to 17-11 overall, 8-9 in the OVC with one final run over the last couple of minutes.
EIU completed the regular season at 14-17 overall, 11-7 in the OVC. The Panthers seed for the OVC Tournament in Evansville will be determined following the results of games today and Saturday. EIU is the lone OVC not in action on Saturday.