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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Every Panther that played scored and Eastern Illinois women's basketball enjoyed a 40-2 edge in bench scoring, rolling to its seventh straight victory, 74-47, against UT Martin Saturday evening at Lantz Arena.
In first place in the Ohio Valley Conference with an 8-1 record at the midpoint of the conference season, the Panthers (12-8 overall) are off to their best start in league play as a member of the OVC.
Mariah King led three EIU players in double figures with a career-high 14 points and eight rebounds. Ta'Kenya Nixon and Maggie Kloak both added 10 points, Dominique Sims finished with nine, and Marie Baker and Sydney Mitchell both chipped in eight off the bench.
Eastern registered 21 assists on its 27 field goals and committed eight turnovers, the team's fewest against a Division I opponent since a 2008 win at UT Martin. The Panthers also enjoyed a 51-31 rebounding advantage, posting 50-plus boards for the second game in a row and fifth time this season.
“I think we played an all-around good game,” Sims said. “We rebounded the ball like we wanted to, we took care of the ball, we got to the free throw line (16-of-22) and we finished plays. Not every shot went in, unfortunately, so we had to play through some things.”
LaBrica Ward led the Skyhawks (4-14, 2-7 OVC) with 18 points, connecting on three of UTM's five 3-pointers. UT Martin was without its leading scorer, Alecia Weatherly, who missed the game after suffering a concussion late in Thursday's win at Southeast Missouri State.
The Skyhawks jumped out to an early 6-2 lead but didn't score from the field for 12 minutes in the first half. The Panthers outscored the visitors 18-3 during that stretch. A 14-0 run highlighted that portion of the game for EIU. Six different Panthers scored during the 14-0 run, including consecutive fastbreak layups from Sims off assists from Nixon and a three-point play by King.
Eastern also opened the second half with a 13-2 surge, effectively putting the game away. Kloak (six), Nixon (four) and Sims (three) accounted for all 13 points. The Panthers shot 47 percent from the field in the second half.
“The second half the tempo was much more to our liking,” EIU head coach Brady Sallee said. “It played a little bit faster, a little bit quicker. And you can see we're a lot more comfortable in that of setting. I really like the way we're coming out of halftimes right now. If we can maintain that type of intensity and tenacity coming out of the locker room, that's a good sign.”
“[Sallee] told us to run the floor and don't play to their speed, which was slow,” King said. “We just played our game, which was speeding it up and pushing the ball up the floor.”
Later in the game during an 11-0 EIU run, Baker connected on three field goals.
Madeline Kish also hit two 3-pointers in the final six and half minutes of the contest.
The Panthers' seven-game win streak is the program's longest since winning eight straight in January and February of last year. Saturday's victory marked the seventh time this season that every EIU player that saw action scored.
Eastern and UT Martin will rematch Feb. 18 in Northwest Tennessee. The Panthers return to action Thursday when they play at Tennessee Tech. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m.
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Ben Turner, Asst. SID
