Women’s basketball team drops 15th straight

Red-shirt+senior+guard+Shakita+Cox+scored+three+points+during+the+Panthers+62-53+loss+to+Tennessee+State+on+Wednesday+in+Lantz+Arena.

Dominic Baima

Red-shirt senior guard Shakita Cox scored three points during the Panthers’ 62-53 loss to Tennessee State on Wednesday in Lantz Arena.

Mark Shanahan, Staff Editor

The Eastern women’s basketball team lost its 15th straight game to conference opponent Belmont on Saturday evening.

After building a first half lead of 54-23, Belmont cruised to an 89-61 win at home. Eastern is now 1-15 for the season and 0-4 in conference play. Belmont is 9-7 for the season and 1-2 in conference play.

Three players scored double-digits for Eastern, but that did not help them dig themselves out of the hole they were in from the start of the game. Belmont had six players score double-digits.

Belmont opened with a 12-0 run against Eastern and kept the lead in the game. Sally McCabe scored 10 of Belmont’s first 15 points. She finished the game with 14 points.

It took Eastern until the 6:06 mark to score their first basket as junior forward Erica Brown was fouled while making a layup and completed the three-point play. Belmont shot 75 percent in the first quarter going 5-of-8 from the three-point line. They led Eastern 30-13 after the first.

Belmont continued to shoot well from beyond the arc in the second quarter. They had their biggest lead of 31 points late in the second quarter after Jenny Roy scored with a layup with 50 seconds left in the half.

Roy ended with 10 points and Eastern trailed 54-23 at halftime. Belmont finished the first half with three players scoring in double figures. Brown provided most of Eastern’s offense in the first half with 11 points. She finished the game with the team high 17 points.

Eastern cut down on the lead in the third quarter going on an 8-3 run making the score 59-31. Belmont’s Kylee Smith stopped the run with a three-pointer. Smith finished the game with the team high 20 points as their lead jumped to 62-31.

Eastern returned with an 11-2 run to make the score 73-39 going into the fourth quarter. The lead was too big for a comeback in the fourth quarter, but Eastern fought back by outscoring Belmont 22-16. Belmont went on to earn an 89-61 victory.

Sophomore guard Grace Lennox said their second half was better than their first.

“We didn’t lay down and let them kill us, we continued to fight and try to reduce the deficit,” she said. “We learned that reversing the ball and not taking quick shots is a much better way of playing, especially when we were not shooting very well.”

Sophomore guard Mariah Madison scored eight points in the second half and finished with 12 points. Lennox had another strong game with eight assists and five points.

Eastern is at home on Thursday set to take on Eastern Kentucky to open a three-game homestand.

Mark Shanahan can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected]