Boxscore
CHICAGO -- Eastern Illinois women's basketball battled back from a seven a half minute field goal drought to open the game, eventually taking the lead in the second half, but Illinois-Chicago answered and went on to win the in-state rivalry contest, 62-56, Sunday afternoon at the UIC Pavilion.
Every Panther that saw action scored but Ashley Thomas (11 points) was the only the EIU player to finish in double-figures. Kelsey Wyss added nine points and Maggie Kloak had nine points and nine rebounds. However, Kloak was only 1-of-9 from the field.
Chantelle Pressley finished with seven points and seven rebounds but had to leave the game in the final minute with an ankle injury.
UIC Freshman Taylor Foulks led all scorers with a season-high 17 points. She connected on four of her team's six 3-pointers.
“I told them before the game, 'you've got to be tough and you've got to execute,'” EIU head coach Brady Sallee said. “We came out and we weren't tough and we didn't execute, and so we got beat.”
Eastern (5-6) trailed by as many as 15 in the first half but took a four-point lead with nine minutes remaining in the contest. But the Flames (3-7) responded with a 10-0 run and led the rest of the way.
The Panthers made it a 52-51 contest on a 3-pointer by Pressley at the 2:35 mark. It was the closest EIU would get. UIC was 6-of-8 at the free throw line in the final minute to seal the victory.
The loss kept the Panthers winless at the UIC Pavilion since December 1997.
Eastern trailed 14-4 when Dominique Sims finally scored EIU's first field goal on a putback basket at the 12:24 mark of the first half. After going down by 15, the Panthers answered with a 10-0 run and outscored UIC 14-3 the remainder of the half.
Eastern took the lead for the first time in the second half on a jumper by Wyss at the 14:53 mark. The lead changed hands three times before UIC went ahead for good with its 10-0 run.
The Panthers return to action Tuesday when they host Illinois State at 5:30 p.m. in game one of an EIU basketball doubleheader at Lantz Arena.
