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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Kristin Perry’s first collegiate game at Morehead State was a memorable one. Unfortunately, for the visiting Eagle women’s basketball team, host Eastern Illinois built an insurmountable first-half lead and held on to defeat the Eagles 78-58 Saturday at Lantz Arena.
MSU dropped its fifth straight game to fall to 7-15 overall and 4-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference. EIU won its 18th consecutive league contest and remained perfect in the conference at 10-0 and also moved to 19-4 overall.
Perry, a freshman forward and native of nearby Olive Hill, Ky., came off the bench late in the first half and scored her first collegiate points. She proceeded to hit five of her six attempts in the final half and nailed all five of her free throws for a career-high 18 points in just 17 minutes.
The Eagles outscored EIU 45-36 in the second half, but the Panthers pounced on MSU to take a 42-13 lead at the break. EIU limited the Eagles to zero field goals in the final 9:30 of the opening period and finished with a 51 percent shooting efficiency for the game.
Mariah King led the hosts with 20 points and nine rebounds. Three others reached double figures in the scoring column, and EIU out-rebounded the Eagles 44-26.
MSU also got a team-high 20 points from senior guard Courtney Lumpkin, including 15 in the second half. Senior guard Linda Dixon tallied 11 markers.
MSU scored the first three points on a trey by Lumpkin, but the Panthers went on to push their lead out to 17-9. Lumpkin knocked down a jumper at the 13:14 mark of the first half, but EIU finished the stanza on a 23-2 run.
The Panthers outscored the Eagles alone from the free throw line in the half, 16-13, and finished with a 20-6 advantage in points scored at the charity stripe.
MSU was never able to trim EIU’s lead to less than 20 points, but the Eagles did shoot 53 percent (17-of-32) in the final half.
The Eagles continue a three-game OVC road trip Monday night at SIU Edwardsville. Game time is set for 8 p.m. ET at the Vadalabene Center.
