Women’s basketball team beaten by Belmont 63-49

Adam Tumino, Editor-in-Chief

The Eastern women’s basketball team had its three-game winning streak snapped Thursday in a 63-49 road loss to Belmont.

The Panther offense, which has been among the most effective in the OVC this season, struggled for much of the game. Eastern fell to 4-5 in conference play with the loss.

The Bruins, who played their first game since Dec. 20 on Tuesday, improved to 2-1 in OVC play after having multiple games postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.

With the exception of the second quarter and parts of the fourth, the Eastern offense never got much going as far as scoring was concerned, recording only 9 points in the first quarter and 8 in the third and shooting just 37.5 percent from the field in the game.

The Bruins’ offense was mostly held in check by the Panthers, shooting 43.9 percent from the field and scoring 63 points, which is below their season average.

Turnovers were a big part of what led to the Eastern loss. The Panthers turned the ball over 22 times, their second-most this season and most in conference play. They had 24 turnovers against Northwestern on Dec. 10.

Belmont capitalized on Eastern’s turnovers, scoring 24 points off turnovers in the game. The Panthers forced just 12 turnovers in return and were largely unable to capitalize on them, scoring just 5 points off turnovers.

Eastern forward Abby Wahl continued to be one of the more productive players in the OVC by leading Eastern with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Wahl shot 4-of-9 from the field while going 6-of-6 from the free throw line.

Sophomore guard Lariah Washington was the only other Eastern player to score in double figures with 12 points. Karle Pace, one game after scoring a career-high 32 points, scored just 9 points while shooting 1-5 from the field.

Eastern plays again Saturday on the road against Tennessee State at 1 p.m.

 

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