The Eastern Illinois women’s basketball team split six games over the holiday break, winning three non-conference games before dropping the first two games on the Ohio Valley Conference schedule.

Junior forward Janelle Cazy scored a career-high 35 points, but it was not enough as the Panthers fell Saturday night at Austin Peay 85-73. Cazy shot 12-for-17 from the floor and 11-for-14 from the free-throw line during her career night. Sophomore guard Megan Casad chipped in 15 points and junior guard Megan Sparks grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds.

“The plan going in was to get the ball inside, because we felt we had an advantage in the post,” Cazy said. “The other girls noticed I was having a good night and really made an effort to get me the ball.”

Although Cazy had a career night, she said it was kind of bittersweet because the Panthers weren’t able to pick up the win.

“I was really surprised with my performance,” she said, “but obviously I would much rather have won the game.”

Preseason OVC favorite Tennessee Tech, backed by a record performance from freshman guard Stefanie Holbrook defeated the visiting Panthers 88-56 Thursday night. Holbrook set an OVC record with 10 3-pointers en route to a career-high 30 points. Eastern freshman forward Tangie Sellers had her best collegiate performance as she scored 11 points to lead the Panther scoring attack while sophomore guard Melanie Ploger chipped in 10 points off the bench.

The Panthers finished up the non-conference portion of their schedule with a pair of home victories, and split a pair of games in tournament action at Iowa State.

The Panthers (7-6, 0-2) opened winter break with consecutive home victories. On Dec. 20, Eastern defeated Jacksonville 62-51 behind a career-high 20 points from Casad and a 16 point, 15 rebound double-double effort from sophomore forward Meagan Scaggs.

Eastern then defeated Charleston Southern on Dec. 22, 67-49. Cazy led the Panthers with 14 points. Senior forward Pam O’Connor chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds, while Casad added 11 points.

Eastern then hit the road to compete in the Cyclone Classic at Iowa State University on Dec 29-30. The tournament opened on a sour note as the Panthers fell to the host Cyclones 80-51. Cazy and Sparks each scored a team-high 12 points in the loss.

The Panthers bounced back that very next night by defeating Mercer 73-59 to win the consolation game of the Cyclone Classic. O’Connor scored a season-high 22 points and added nine rebounds to lead the Panthers. Sparks also nearly missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.

Sparks said the Panthers started out winter break very well, but had a few lapses which led to a couple of their losses.

“We are really disappointed in opening conference with two losses,” Sparks said. “We knew we were playing two of the better teams to start, and by winning those games earlier, we were really confident going into those games.

“We just had some defensive lapses in those games, but hopefully we can bounce back this week.”

The Panthers will be back in OVC action Wednesday night as they travel to Southeast Missouri to take on the Otahkians at 5 p.m.