Lauren Dailey got a birthday gift that had nothing to do with cake and ice cream. Eastern’s senior guard racked up 16 points and 5 assists on her 22nd birthday as the Panthers defeated NAIA member Robert Morris College 84-70.

“I usually get a win on my birthday because I’ve had a game on this day since middle school,” Dailey said.

Eastern (2-2) didn’t dominate Robert Morris (1-9) in no way resembling its 90-point victory over fellow NAIA school Indiana-Northwest. The Panthers came out with an effort level that upset Eastern head coach Linda Wunder.

“I was a little disappointed with the intensity level being off a little bit tonight,” Wunder said. “Quite frankly, we were not ready to play.”

Junior center Pam O’Connor announced to the world that she was completely healthy and ready to lead the Panthers down low offensively. O’Connor achieved her career-high of 26 points for third time in a Eastern jersey.

“I just feel good to be back out there on the court,” O’Connor said. “It wasn’t the prettiest performance but a win is a win and we’ll take it.”

The 6-foot-2 power threat from Wood Dale, Ill. ended the contest 10 of 14 from the field and six of eight from the charity stripe.

“I figured she would come in and be a contributor right away,” Wunder said. “Tonight was what I would consider a normal day at the office for Pam O’Connor.”

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In the first half, Robert Morris was able to hang around with the highly favored Panthers because of Eastern’s 11 turnovers which led to 10 points. Ironically, the turnovers were not made by the Panthers pair of freshman point guards (Megan Casad and Melanie Ploger) and they were the result of upperclassmen starters.

“The frustrating thing about the turnovers that are being made by those young girls,” Wunder said. “They are being made by our experienced players making poor decisions.”

The smaller Eagles also benefited from out rebounding Eastern 11-1 on the offensive end and 19-17 overall.

“It was something that we certainly stressed and drilled into the team at halftime,” Wunder said. “We are really trying to get our big players to rebound better.”

In the second half, Eastern’s birthday girl finally made her special day count after picking up two quick fouls and being held to four first half points. Dailey was five of nine from the field after halftime and ended the contest with five assists without a turnover.

“I got into foul trouble early and wasn’t as aggressive in the first half,” Dailey said. “In the second half, my shot started falling.”

The Eagles got a big lift off the bench as backup center Carrie Porter stepped up to provide 20 points and eight rebounds. Porter was able to dominate all three Eastern post players Wunder threw at her.

“She is an excellent post player and we put Pam, Janelle (Cazy) and Allison (Collins) on her,” Wunder said. “It simply didn’t matter who she posted up against.”

Even though the Panthers shot 58 percent from the field and was 18 of 23 from the foul line, Eastern’s upperclassmen realized it needed a better performance to win its bigger non-conference contests. However, Dailey helped point out the milestone that was reached on a lackluster performance.

“We have a lot of things to work in but it’s been a long time since we we’re .500,” Dailey said.

“We just tend to play down to our competition and hopefully we will bring the level of intensity that w had against Loyola,” Wunder said.