If there was a letdown game on the Eastern women’s basketball team’s schedule, it was Saturday night in Nashville against Tennessee State.

Perhaps the Panthers felt the letdown factor come into play early as they trailed 12-2 in the first five minutes of the game before bouncing back with numerous runs to pull out a 77-62 victory over winless TSU.

With Saturday night’s game sandwiched between last Thursday’s loss to Tennessee Tech and tonight’s game at Wisconsin, the Panthers (8-10, 7-4 OVC) were prime for a possible upset.

“I was worried about this game for the last week,” Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said. “I think we came out a little lackadaisical at the beginning.”

With the Lady Tigers (0-16, 0-9) jumping out to the early 10-point lead, it would have been easy for the Panthers to panic. Instead they rebounded with a 10-0 run of their own to tie the game at 12.

Eastern eventually took the lead for good with 4 minutes, 35 seconds left in the first half on junior guard Amanda Maxedon’s free throw to put EIU up 29-28.

Sallee credited Maxedon with being one of the bright spots in Saturday’s game. She impressed her head coach with her hustle plays, leading to seven points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes for the junior guard.

“She was all over the floor,” Sallee said. “She brought the type of energy that we were lacking. That’s the big reason she’s here is because of her hard work and hustle.”

Unlike previous games in the last few weeks where the Panthers have been launching an unusual number of three-pointers, Eastern decided to direct its attack towards the basket.

In doing so, the Panthers attempted 27 free throws, connecting on 20, while only shooting eight three-pointers. The Panthers also got balanced scoring as senior guard Megan Sparks led the team with 16 points. Freshmen Rachel Galligan (15 points, nine rebounds) and Megan Edwards (12 points, eight assists) also had solid games.

With Eastern up 34-30 at halftime, the Panthers looked for a spark to their offense and found one in Sparks.

She scored 11 of her 16 points in the second half, hitting three three-pointers to the put the Panthers on a 16-5 run and build their first double-digit lead of the game.

“She hit some big shots for us in the second half,” Sallee said. “She got our offense going.”

Although the Panthers got the victory and remained alone in fourth place in the OVC, they couldn’t celebrate too much as they got back on the bus for their third game in five days to take on the Badgers in Madison, Wis.

“It feels like this is our second home,” Sallee said of the team’s charter bus. “We’ve been on the bus more than the basketball floor. It feels like we’re an NBA team with all these games.”

After tonight’s game against Wisconsin (6-12, 1-6 Big Ten), Eastern will have five days off to prepare for a home game against Morehead State.

Sallee feels the constant time on the road has had a positive effect on his team.

“Bus trips are the best,” Sallee said. “It’s the only time where it’s just you and the team and where you can really get to know each other. I’ve felt we’ve definitely gelled on this trip.”

Sallee would also like to take one more bus trip to Nashville, where the OVC Tournament will take place March 3-4.

“I’d like to come back here in about 41 days,” he said.