As the clock ticked down to zero, Eastern women’s basketball head coach Brady Sallee embraced assistant coaches Lee Buchanan and Quacy Timmons on the sideline as the Panthers clinched their first ever outright Ohio Valley Conference Title.

At the end of the game, the score read 78-47 in favor of Eastern, setting off a mass celebration between players, coaches and fans in Lantz Arena Thursday.

Sallee embraced Buchanan and Timmons as emotions ran, knowing that there was the presence of Jackie Moore, the assistant coach who died in November after collapsing during a work.

“That was a four-coach hug, if you know what I mean,” Sallee said. “It was just one of those situations where we knew Jackie was looking down on us and it was just a special moment.”

After the on-court celebration, the Panthers brought the party to their locker room where Sallee talked to his team about Moore’s presence among a celebratory team. Senior guard Dominique Sims couldn’t control her emotions after the game with so many different things crossing her mind.

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” Sims said. “I’m just really happy.”

Sims – who led the team with 18 points and 13 rebound – said the presence of Moore was with the team all season, yet never more than in Thursday’s game.

“Jackie has been there with us the whole way,” Sims said. “We’ve had to tough out some things, but we did it.”

Eastern ran over Austin Peay from the start of the game, scoring the first 15 points of the game, which was no surprise to Sallee, who knew his team was ready.

“On Wednesday I thought we could’ve tipped it up then,” Sallee said. “I almost had to pull the reins on them to keep them from beating the tar out of each other in practice. We were ready to play and it showed those first four or five minutes and we came out like gangbusters.”

After scoring the first 15 points of the game, Sallee said he thought the team never let up as they took a 41-22 into halftime and gained its largest lead of the game with 3:29 left in the game, leading by 33 points.

“We were getting defensive stops, then we were taking it in transition and scoring buckets that way,” Sims said. “I think it was all defense and rebounding.”

For anything Austin Peay threw at Eastern, Sallee said his team had the answer, which made him proud of his team at the end of the game.

“We kept coming at them and no matter what they did we had some pretty good answers for them,” Sallee said. “We played tough and that’s what you have to do against that team.”

Sallee said he was proud of his team in how they responded to the night that had awaited them all week.

“Tonight was our night,” Sallee said. “We had a lot on the line. I was going to be shocked if we didn’t come out and respond the way we did.

“Our kids were ready to go, they were tired of listening to the whole ‘shared’ (title) thing and they were ready to go out and get it for their own. I was pretty happy with the way they responded.”

With the win, the Panthers also locked up back-to-back 20-win seasons, but Sims said the team’s journey isn’t over yet, especially with one more game to go in the season.

Eastern’s regular season finale will be at 4 p.m. Saturday in Lantz Arena against Tennessee State. As it is the last home game of the regular season, it will serve as Senior Night.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944 or [email protected]