It came down to the wire on Saturday morning before Morehead State was able to hold off a late Eastern Illinois charge to beat the Panthers 52-48 at Johnson Arena.

EIU had trailed most of the game but was able to get within striking distance in the final 90 seconds of action.  Ava Stoller completed a personal 6-0 EIU run with a three-point play with 1:18 to play to cut the MSU lead to 45-43.

Laura Toffali answered for the Eagles with a jumper in the lane to push the lead back to a two-possession advantage.

The Panthers cut that down to a single point twice in the final 18 seconds first on a Meioshe Mason three-point play with 18 seconds left.  The second time was on a quick jumper by Sydney-James Desroches to make it 49-48 with 14 seconds remaining.  Desroches was one of two Panthers with 16 points.

After Toffali put the MSU lead back at three points with free throws, EIU had one more offensive chance to tie or extend the game.  Marie Stepp blocked a Panther 3-point attempt and MSU made one of two free throws to ice the game.   MSU was 18-of-22 at the line for the day as EIU contained the Eagles to just 2-of-19 from 3-point range.

Stoller tied Desroches for team-high honors with 16 points.  EIU dominated play on the glass with a 45-33 rebound margin.  Alanna Phillipo had nine rebounds with Desroches pulling down eight for EIU as the Panthers dropped to 3-18 overall, 2-8 in the OVC.

MSU improved to 12-9 overall, 7-3 in the OVC.  Toffali had 22 points to lead the Eagles.  Kate Dike added 12 points.