Eastern senior point guard Grace Lennox made a go-ahead free throw with nine seconds remaining in what would be a 64-62 win for the women’s basketball team over Western Illinois on Friday that gave the team its first road win since Feb. 18, 2017. 

Eastern and Western exchanged leads and ties throughout the fourth quarter, eventually settling into a 60-60 tie with 26 seconds to play. Sophomore guard Karle Pace was fouled by Western and with 20 seconds left she went to the free throw line. Pace made the first shot but missed the second. Fellow sophomore Taylor Steele was in the right place at the right time however. 

Steele grabbed a rebound off of Pace’s miss and was immediately fouled with 16 seconds left by Western. Steele went to the free throw line and made both free throws to give Eastern a crucial three-point lead.

The three-point cushion gave Eastern the ability to foul Western without having to surrender the lead. Western went to the free throw line and made both shots to make the score 63-62 with ten seconds to play. 

Western fouled immediately and sent Lennox to the line. Lennox’s miss was rebounded with nine seconds to play, but Western was unable to get another shot off as Eastern picked up a highly-coveted road win.

“We did a good job of hanging on,” Eastern head coach Matt Bollant said. “We had a lead and they came back and tied it and I was really proud of our players for stepping up and making the plays they had to down the stretch.”

The win over Western was Eastern’s 4^th of the season, already one more than the team’s total from all of last season. The win also gave Eastern an indiacation as to just how much thr program has progressed in year two of Bollant’s tenure. 

When the tournament and subsequent game against Western was scheduled, Bollant felt Western was well ahead of his program, but Friday’s game painted a much different picture. 

“It was big for us,” Bollant said. “Obviously they beat Austin Peay earlier in the year and they have been a really good program and for us to win a game on a neutral court was a really good sign for us.”

Pace led Eastern in that game with 17 points. Pace has scored 10 or more points in the Panthers’ last six games. 

“I think she is just scoring in a variety of ways,” Bollant said. “She took a number of pull-ups and she has added that dimension to her game. Obviously, she has shown she can shoot the three, she’s getting to the rim, she’s getting to the foul line some as well. She is really just a complete scorer and scoring in a variety of ways.”

Pace also led the team with 13 points in the Panthers’ 73-59 loss to Southern Illinois in game two of the Compass Tournament. 

Southern would go on to win the tournament, beating Eastern and Northern Illinois.

Southern’s defense proved too much for Eastern to handle in the game, the Salukis held the Panthers to just 41 total shots. Bollant said it was clear that Southern was the best team in the tournament. 

“(Southern) is just really complete, they guard well,” Bollant said. “They started the first half scoring the first eight points and then the second half… that really was the difference in the game, those two spurts at the start of the game and the start of the third quarter.”

Bollant was satisfied with the first half of that game, his team was trailing just 31-26, but felt the second half was where his team lost the game. Southern outscored Eastern 25-10 in the third quarter. 

He said his team was hurt by fatigue in the second half as playing back to back days was something his team might not have been totally used to. 

Eastern is now 4-4 on the season. 

JJ Bullock can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].