A double-digit, fourth-quarter lead and 35-point outburst from Lariah Washington were not enough for the Eastern women’s basketball team Thursday against Murray State.

Eastern fell 92-87 to the Racers.

The Racers’ Macie Gibson hit a three pointer with 4.3 seconds remaining to tie the game at 78, setting up an overtime period in which Eastern was outscored 14-9. The loss was the second-straight conference defeat for Eastern, which fell to 5-4 in OVC play. Murray State improved its conference record to 3-6 with the victory.

“It was a quality game,” Eastern head coach Matt Bollant said. “Give them credit, I thought Murray State really stepped up and played really well tonight.”

Bollant said he was pleased with how the Eastern defense shut down Murray State’s leading scorer Macey Turley, holding her to six points on 1-of-10 shooting from the field. But Bollant said the defensive lapses in the second quarter and down the stretch in the fourth led to the loss.

“I was really disappointed in our first half, especially the second-quarter defense,” he said. “I challenged (the team) at half to play with passion and energy, and then they did. The third quarter was a really good quarter, and most of the fourth quarter.”

With four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Racers began a 14-4 run, culminating in Gibson’s three to send the game to overtime. In the extra period, both teams shot 3-of-7 from the field, but Murray State made 8-of-9 free throws to ice the game.

For Eastern, Washington scored six of the Panthers’ nine overtime points to finish off her career night. She shot 14-of-23 from the field to reach her 35 points and added three rebounds and three steals.

“I was really, obviously proud of Lariah,” Bollant said. “I don’t know too many freshmen who have 35.”

Bollant said that Washington was able to use several different avenues to score effectively.

“She got to the rim, she got to the foul line, she posted up some,” he said. “She just scored in a lot of ways.”

But the game came down to the fourth-quarter run by Murray State. The Panthers did not make a field goal in the final 2:23 of regulation. The Racers made three field goals in that stretch, including the game-tying three pointer. Murray State also took advantage of two timely Eastern turnovers in the final minutes.

But despite the mistakes and the final result, Bollant said he was happy that the Panthers were in the position to win the game.

Going into the Panthers’ next game against Austin Peay, Bollant said the team needs to stay focused for the entirety of the game.

“We’ve got to play for four quarters,” he said. “Today I felt like we played one and a half.”

But he also said that he saw continued growth from the team.

“We’re growing,” Bollant said. “It was a tough environment, they had a huge crowd here at the end of the fourth quarter and made it a really tough environment. But we’re growing, and overall I’m proud of our team for stepping up and playing a really good second half, just didn’t quite get it done.”

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].