Morehead, Ky.-- Blistering shooting and smothering defense out of the gate by Eastern Illinois proved to be too much to handle for the Morehead State women's basketball team as they fell to EIU 100-46 Thursday night in Groniger Arena in Charleston, Ill.
Morehead State (7-12, 2-7 OVC) found themselves on the receiving end of a stifling press defense that forced seven first quarter turnovers resulting in 14 Panther points. Eastern Illinois (12-6, 9-0 OVC) ended the opening quarter with a 16-4 run and led 27-10 at the quarter break.
The teams played fairly evenly in the second quarter: EIU outscored the Eagles 14-12 and took a 44-24 lead into halftime. The Panthers forced MSU into 12 turnovers and scored 20 points in the half off Eagle miscues.
Eastern Illinois came out of the intermission with a shooting barrage, hitting 12-17 (75%) from the floor, while holding MSU to just 4-15 (27%) from the field. The Panthers poured it on in the fourth quarter, hitting 11-17 (65%) from the floor, including six of their eight three-point tries.
MSU was led in scoring by Aileen Marquez with 11 points. She hit three of her six three-point attempts. Chrishawn Coleman finished with 10. Morehead State was again hampered by injury: leading scorer Kate Novik, starting forward Michelle Ugwah and guard Alyssa Berry were all unavailable for the game.
EIU was led by Macy McGlone with 20 points, her seventh 20+ points effort of the season. Redshirt freshman Georgia Cox came off the bench to finish with a career-high 18 points, hitting six of seven from the field and was perfect from three-point range, hitting all five of her attempts.
Morehead State returns to action Saturday when they visit Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET.
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