The Panthers appeared poised for an upset Sunday afternoon when they took a 12-point lead into halftime against Illinois.

But a heavy dose of Fighting Illini senior forward Lacey Simpson sparked an Illinois comeback and the Panthers lost 49-45 at Assembly Hall in Champaign to start the season 1-1. Eastern beat Miami (Ohio) 82-74 on Friday night at Lantz Arena.

The Panthers were focused on stopping Illinois’ leading scorer, 6-foot-3 junior center and All-American candidate Jenna Smith.

Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said he thought his team was able to contain Smith pretty well for most of the game despite Smith’s game-high 16 points.

She finished 5-for-12 shooting and had five rebounds while playing all 40 minutes.

“Clearly the game plan was to keep (Smith) from hurting us, and we executed that really well,” Sallee said. “In the first half, she didn’t score once within their offense. She scored once on transition and once on an offensive rebound.”

Senior forward Rachel Galligan said guarding Smith was a tough task and it took work from the entire team to be able to contain her for much of the game.

“She’s really, really athletic, and you can’t just defend her one-on-one,” said Galligan, who finished with six points and six rebounds in 32 minutes. “I just did my normal post defense and tried to push her under the basket and off of the block. My teammates really helped clog the lane and made her work hard for every ball. It was a total team effort.”

After scoring 28 points to take the halftime lead, the Panthers struggled offensively in the second half and managed only 17 points.

Despite the loss, Sallee said he saw some positives in his team’s performance. He said in these early non-conference games he measures his team’s success more on how well they are playing instead of on wins and losses.

“We’re playing to build our identity, and that’s what every team in the nation is doing right now,” Sallee said. “Regardless of who we’re playing, we’re worried about how happy we are defensively and offensively and seeing things we need to do to get better. We’ll build off of this.”

In Friday’s victory against Miami, the Panthers again took a large lead into halftime. The Redhawks, like the Fighting Illini on Sunday, made a strong run out of halftime and cut an 11-point lead to a one-point lead less than five minutes into the second half.

This time, however, the Panthers were able to stop the run, aided by senior guard Ellen Canale who got to the free throw line three straight times to extend the lead to 58-51 with 13 minutes left.

Canale finished the game with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Perhaps more importantly for the Panthers was her job guarding Redhawks’ senior guard Jenna Schone.

Schone, a preseason Mid-American Conference First Team selection, had eight points on 2-of-12 shooting and fouled out with one minute remaining.

“That was a team effort 100-percent,” Canale said. “With all of the ball screens, the flair screens, the double, triple, quadruple down screens, we knew it was going to happen. The intensity out there was way different. She was quick as crap, but it was a team thing.”

Sallee was quick to credit Canale for the defensive job she did in the victory.

“That’s who (Canale) has been for us her whole career,” he said. “For us to come out and do the job we did on (Schone), I can’t say enough about the effort that (Canale) and everyone who guarded the Schone kid did.”

Canale was one of five Panthers to score in double-figures. Galligan led the team with 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

Junior guard Ashley Thomas added 14 while Kluempers and Edwards chipped in with 11 apiece.

The Panthers continue their non-conference schedule on Wednesday when they travel to East Peoria to take on Bradley at 7:05 p.m. The game will be played at Illinois Central College.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at [email protected].