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MARTIN, Tenn. -- UT Martin's Darnisha Lyles scored all of her 19 points in the second half and the Skyhawks shot 59 percent from the field as a team, snapping Eastern Illinois women's basketball's 13-game win streak, 71-64, Thursday evening.
Ta'Kenya Nixon led EIU with 21 points and seven assists. She broke EIU freshman records for steals and free throws made. Maggie Kloak was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and finished with 12 points. Sydney Mitchell also scored 12 points off the bench, scoring in double figures for the fourth time in the last five games.
With her 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, Lyles led five UTM players in double figures.
The Skyhawks' 59 percent shooting as a team was the highest clip by an EIU opponent since Murray State shot 60 percent in a 2007 win in Murray. UT Martin (8-17, 6-9 OVC) joined UTEP as the only opponents to shoot above 50 percent from the field against the Panthers (18-9, 13-2 OVC) this season.
The Skyhawks made six of their nine 3-pointers in the first half and shot 78 percent (14-of-18) from the field in the second half. UT Martin has won four straight games at home, scoring 70-plus in three of the four.
“You give Martin a lot of credit; top to bottom they really whooped us,” EIU head coach Brady Sallee said. “I can't imagine many teams missing the shots they were getting. They were getting uncontested wide-open shots, whether they were layups or 3s. To their credit, they stepped up and knocked them down. From a defensive standpoint, we were as bad as we've been all year. When you give up that many points, I don't care who you're playing, you're just not going to win that game.”
The Panthers shot 44 percent from the field but were 3-of-18 from 3-point land and got outscored at the free throw line, 16-13.
The Skyhawks took the lead for good on back-to-back baskets by Lyles after the 12-minute mark of the second half. UT Martin stretched out that lead with an 8-2 run and went up by as many as 12 in the final three minutes.
Lyles scored 13 of her 19 points over a stretch of five and a half minutes in the second half. A 40 percent shooter at the free throw line entering the night, the forward was 5-of-5 at the charity stripe. The only shot she missed at the line was wiped out by an EIU lane violation.
The game featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes. Eastern led by three at the break and that lead grew to five, EIU's biggest of the night, when Nixon recorded a steal and a breakaway layup to open the second half. But UTM point guard Erica Glisson responded with 3-pointers on her team's next two possessions. The Panthers led by no more than one point the rest of the way.
The Skyhawks scored each of their first 15 points in the contest from 3-point land, their first two-point field goal coming at the seven-minute mark of the first half. For EIU, Ashley Thomas hit a 3-pointer at the 15:35 mark of the first half. The Panthers did not score again from behind the arc until Nixon connected with 1:56 remaining in the game.
Eastern returns to action Saturday when it plays its final regular-season road game at Murray State. Tipoff is slated for 1:30 p.m.
