Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

Ava Stoller scored 18 points for Eastern Illinois on Tuesday night as the Panthers hung tough most of the game against OVC leader Western Illinois before falling 74-61 at Groniger Arena.
 
The loss snapped EIU's two game win streak as the Panthers fell to 3-14 overall, 2-5 in the OVC.
 
WIU jumped out to an 8-0 lead, with EIU closing that down to 10-8 with six early points in the paint by Meioshe Mason. Ella Lune tied the game at 10-10 with a jumper in the paint as EIU held its own down low with both teams scoring 24 points in the paint.
 
WIU led 20-16 at the end of the first quarter extending that to 37-25 at the half as the Leathernecks never trailed improving to 14-2 overall, 6-1 in the OVC.
 
Tiny Lewis joined Stoller in double figures with 12 points off the bench for EIU scoring in double figures for the third straight game.  She cut the WIU lead down to single digits with free throws with 1:36 left in the third quarter but EIU could get no closer than nine points the remainder of the game.
 
Mia Nicastro had a double-double to lead WIU with 33 points and 12 rebounds.  Mallory Shetley added 18 on a night EIU's bench finished with a 23-7 advantage over the Leathernecks.