NORMAL – Megan McCracken torched the Panthers Tuesday night.

Illinois State’s senior guard sunk five first half 3-pointers and blew the game wide open, with ISU leading 52-35 at halftime.

The Rock Island native finished with 27 points on 10 of 15 shooting (seven of 10 from beyond the arc), in a 101-72 blowout win at Redbird Arena.

“I was in the zone,” McCracken said. “The basket literally looked like it was 20 feet wide.”

The Redbirds (4-2) went 15 of 32 from the three-point line in the win, while Eastern only went three of 10 from beyond the arc.

“Illinois State played their tails off and kicked ours,” said head coach Brady Sallee.

While McCracken’s hot hand sparked the Redbird’s offense, their post defense preserved the win.

Sophomore forward Rachel Galligan, a Bloomington native, was well received by the crowd, but Galligan’s homecoming was spoiled by the Redbirds.

The reigning Ohio Valley Conference freshman of the year was played tough in the post, making only 6 of her 18 shots (33 percent) from the field and was blocked three times by Illinois State’s 6-foot-5 inch center, Nicolle Lewis.

“I didn’t shoot as well as I have before. Yeah, not at all,” Galligan said. “I came out and I was kind of timid at first but finally I just decided I was going to start taking it in. I wasn’t on and I knew I had to get (ISU’s post players) in foul trouble.”

Galligan finished with a team-high 22 points, 10 from the free throw line, and forced Lewis to foul out with 5:35 left in the second half.

ISU’s Kenyatta Shelton showed off her athleticism in the paint, racking up 16 points and 11 rebounds, four offensive, for her fourth double-double in six games.

“When you got a young team and you’re building a program, there is going to be nights like this where you got to learn a lesson,” Sallee said. “You take your lumps and you learn them a hard, hard way.”

Senior guard Meggie Eck, the Panthers’ most consistent outside shooting threat, was smothered on the perimeter as she was able to take only one shot and finished the game with zero points in 22 minutes on the floor.

Point guard Jessica Huffman scored in double digits for the fifth consecutive game, finishing with 16, but the freshman tallied 10 turnovers and only had two assists.

The Panthers had 20 total turnovers in the game and the Redbirds turned those extra possessions into 28 points.

The Redbirds superior post play allowed for the Redbirds to outscore the Panthers 36-30 in the paint and score 15 points on second chance baskets, the majority coming from Shelton.

The Panthers (2-3) get back into action Friday when they travel to Columbia, Mo., to take on Alabama A&M in a four-team tournament hosted by Missouri.