Miami (2-10) had five players score in double figures, led by a career-high 20 points from Rachael Hencke. Maggie Boyer also finished with 20, scoring 18 in the second half. Ashleigh Brown (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Erin Wisner (10 points, 10 rebounds) both posted double-doubles.

Eastern was able to hold the RedHawks' leading scorer, Courtney Osborn, to a season-low 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field. Osborn entered the night averaging 20 points per game.

The Panthers struggled through a nine-minute field goal drought in the second half. Miami outscored EIU 17-8 during that stretch and took the lead for good. The back-and-forth affair had featured eight ties and 13 lead changes prior to the game-deciding stretch.

After going down by as many as 12 with eight minutes remaining, EIU responded with a 7-2 spurt to make it a 68-61 game. But Hencke scored the game's next basket. Eastern pulled within four on a Nixon 3-pointer at the 2:19 mark, but would get no closer.

The Panthers shot only 32 percent in the second half after a 48 percent showing in the first 20 minutes. Eastern led by as many as eight in the first half and sent Osborn to the bench with three fouls at the 8:45 mark. But Miami responded with its leading scorer on the bench, outscoring EIU 22-18 the remainder of the half.

Eastern has surrendered 80-plus points in consecutive 40-minute games since the first two contests of the 2007-08 campaign.