The Eastern Illinois women’s basketball team ended its six-game losing streak in the Ohio Valley Conference opener against Tennessee Tech at Lantz Arena on Thursday Afternoon.

Panther forward Sabina Oroszova scored 16 points and corralled 12 rebounds in the 67-59 victory.

In the loss on Sunday against St. Louis, the Panthers opened the game 1-of-18 from the floor, but responded in Thursday’s game hitting their first 4-of-7 shots from the floor.

Arnisha Thomas had another strong game for the Panthers with scoring 15 points and 10 in the first half.

The Panther shot 52 percent in the first half and led 28-23.

Opening the second half, Shakita Cox hit a three and Grace Lennox made a lay-up to extend the Panther lead to double figures.

Tennessee Tech guard Samaria Howard put the Golden Eagles on her shoulders for most of the game scoring 28 points on 12-of-24 shooting and scored 21 points in the second half.

Howard cut the Panther lead to two points with 2:38 to play, but that is as close as the Golden Eagles would get as Cox hit a 3-point shot form the corner to give them a five point lead.

Cox would finish the game with nine points.

Free throw shooting was a strong point for the Panthers as they shot 13-of-20 in the second half and closed out the game 7-of-8.

The Panthers finished the game 25-of-49 from the floor and 2-of-10 from the 3-point line.

Eastern outscored the Golden Eagles 36-26 in points in the paint and won the rebound battle 36-32.

This is the ninth straight year the Panthers won their OVC opener and improved their record to 4-10 overall and 1-0 in the conference.

Jacksonville State will visit Lantz Arena on Saturday and the Panthers and Gamecocks will tip-off at 1 p.m.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].