Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Sports

Senior guard Megan Edwards makes a pass during Saturday's 73-53 victory against Southeast Missouri in Lantz Arena. (Eric Hiltner / The Daily Eastern News)

The Eastern women's basketball team had been there before.

With a sizeable halftime lead against Southeast Missouri, Saturday's 73-53 victory against the Redhawks in Lantz Arena resembled the team's earlier loss in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

But this time it was the hot shooting of senior guard Megan Edwards and a stifling defense that held Southeast Missouri's top two scorers to a combined 5-of-22 shooting as the Panthers turned a six-point halftime lead into a 20-point route.

"When we went down there and played them we didn't play the way we wanted to play," said senior forward Rachel Galligan, who finished with a game-high 18 points. "We kind of felt like we let the game slip away with turnovers, and we just weren't playing EIU basketball so we were looking forward to this game and playing at home and having them play here and we just played the way we wanted to."

On Jan. 10, the Panthers blew a nine-point halftime lead in Cape Girardeau, losing one of their two Ohio Valley Conference losses of the season.

Edwards led the way in the second half for the Panthers (17-7, 10-2 OVC), connecting on two of her five 3-pointers for the game.

Edwards finished a perfect 6-of-6 from the field — 5-for-5 from 3-point range — in scoring 17 points against the Redhawks (12-11, 7-5).

"When I play I'm not really looking to shoot, I'm looking to pass first," said Edwards, who moved into a fifth place tie in career 3-point field goals with 112. "I just happened to get a couple going and it's not like I was trying to shoot the ball 20 times, we were just running our offense and it just seemed to be me who kept getting open and luckily they went in."

The Panthers remain behind Murray State (15-6, 10-1) and won their 19th straight game at Lantz Arena.

Edwards, senior guard Ellen Canale and red-shirt junior guard Dominique Sims combined to shut down the Redhawks' high-scoring duo of senior guards Tarina Nixon and Sonya Daugherty.

Sims said they were expecting Nixon and Daugherty to shoot the ball a lot and had to play aggressively to be able to shut them down. Nixon finished with six points while Daugherty was held to seven for the game.

"Our game plan was to not let them get middle penetration," said Sims, who had 11 points and a game-high six assists. "We had to be able to stay on our feet and realize they're not going to give the ball up because they like to shoot the ball 10-12 times a game."

The Panthers tied a program record with 11 blocked shots in the game. No player recorded more than two blocks on their own but seven players registered at least one block in the game. The record dates back to 1990 when the Panthers also had 11 blocks in a game against Western Illinois.

Eastern concluded its four-game home stand with a 4-0 record, and have won five straight overall. They hit the road this week, as they will take on Morehead State at 4:15 p.m. Thursday in Morehead, Ky., before traveling to Richmond, to play Eastern Kentucky at 3 p.m. Saturday.


Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.

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