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EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Eastern Illinois shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half as the Panthers rallied to pick up a 60-48 win over Tennessee State in the second round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
EIU is now 15-17 overall and will play No. 1 seed Southern Indiana in the OVC semifinals on Friday at 1 p.m. at the Ford Center.  TSU ends its season at 11-19.
Tennessee State forced 13 first half turnovers by Eastern Illinois as the Lady Tigers held a 28-26 lead at the half.  In addition to the turnovers, EIU was cold from the field shooting just 29 percent in the opening 20 minutes.
In the third quarter the Panthers began to feed the ball to OVC Player of the Year
Macy McGlone who posted her 26th double-double of the season with 22 points and 12 rebounds,
In the final period it was the play of senior
Emily Meidel off the bench that helped spark the Panthers. Meidel hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with 9:41 to play in the game which broke a 44-44 tie and started a crucial 9-0 run by the Panthers. McGlone scored the other six points in the run.
Meidel was big on the glass for EIU during that final quarter of play pulling down six of her career-high 11 rebounds in the stanza. Meidel added four points, a steal and two blocks to her stat line. EIU finished the game with a 51-36 advantage on the glass.  Â
TSU trimmed the margin down to five points with just under five minutes left in the game on a jumper by Saniah Parker. Parker scored ten points, one of two Lady Tigers in double figures.
Meidel knocked down a free throw to make it a six-point game and
Taris Thornton helped seal the game with a jumper as part of her nine-point afternoon.
Lyric Cole led TSU with 14 points.  Prior to the fourth quarter run by the Panthers, the game had been tied 12 times with seven lead changes.
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