The Eastern women’s basketball team is still looking for its first Division I victory as the Panthers (2-3) fell 66-56 to Jacksonville (2-2) as they leave the state of Florida with nothing but a sunburn.

The back and forth contest between two schools looking for an idenitity was knotted at 28 after the first 20 minutes of play. The smaller Jacksonville team, who failed to start a women taller than six-feet, was able to dominate the Panthers in the post, outscoring them 12-8 in the paint.

The Dolphins were able to effectively box out the taller Eastern post players and finished the game out-rebounding Eastern 48-36 and 24-13 on the offensive end.

Eastern’s leading scorer, Pam O’Connor, was able to get enough touches to record 15 points and eight rebounds to lead the Panthers in both categories.

The junior center was countered by the Dolphins’ power forward Yolisha Jackson, who recorded a double-double by earning 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Jacksonville sqaud was led by guard Rebecca Montz who earned 23 points.

Within the nine minute and three minute mark left to go in the game, Eastern cut the Dolphin lead to a single point three times but never actually took the advantage in the second half.

Jacksonville was able to outscore Eastern 9-2 by hitting its free throws from the charity stripe.

Eastern had two other starters in double figures with Meghan Sparks scoring 11 points on five of 11 shooting from the field. Senior guard Lauren Dailey also paced the Panther perimeter threat by posting 11 points as well and continued the Eastern streak of hitting a three-point shot in 60 consecutive games.

Freshman point guard Meghan Casad struggled in her first out-of-state road game by turning the ball over five times and providing only four points and one assist. Casad was unable to find her jump shot, as she connected on only one of seven shots from the field.

The deciding factor of this see-saw battle was the inability of Eastern to hit a field goal within the final 6:25 of play.

Eastern will take its quest for a Division I win as they travel Tuesday to compete against Savannah State.