Eastern women’s basketball had a simple plan against Austin Peay: force turnovers and capitalize on them.

The Panthers did just that in their 67-48 win against Austin Peay on Thursday night at Lantz Arena.

Eastern sophomore Maggie Kloak forced Austin Peay sophomore center Janay Armstrong to take a bad shot with 4 minutes, 52 seconds to play and Eastern ahead by 19. Although Armstrong gathered her own rebound along the baseline, she managed to throw the ball away along the sidelines.

Kloak and the Eastern players emphasized a team defense in their third-largest margin of victory in an Ohio Valley Conference win this season. It was the also the fewest points Eastern has allowed an opponent to score this season.

“If we continue to be good (in defense and rebounding), and have offensive nights like tonight – we can win,” said Eastern head coach Brady Sallee.

With the win, the Panthers (13-10, 12-3 OVC) maintain their second-place standing in the OVC. First-place Southeast Missouri defeated Morehead State on Thursday to maintain a half-game lead on the Panthers in the race for the regular-season OVC title.

“We spent all week talking about what we need to do to take (Austin Peay) out of their game tonight,” said Eastern junior guard Ashley Thomas. “For us to (be) playing as good as we are right now (defensively) – this late in the season – is only going to help us further down the road.”

Sallee yelled at his team to fire up when the score was tied at 10 with 13:57 remaining in the first half.

The Panthers responded.

The Eastern women went on a 20-2 run during the next five minutes to distance themselves from the Lady Governors.

“They picked up their defense, and we didn’t calm down enough to really get into a threat,” said Austin Peay head coach Carrie Daniels. “We just got scattered a little bit. We just threw the ball around. We talked pre-game about keeping our focus, and we definitely didn’t do that.”

Austin Peay (5-17, 2-11) finished the first half with 14 turnovers, and the Panthers capitalized with 19 points coming off those turnovers.

“We knew what they were going to,” Sallee said. “Our help side (defense) was tremendous tonight. They had a hard time going into the post. I thought we did a good job of making them play sideways.”

Austin Peay’s senior guard Ashlee McGee led her team with 14 points. The Lady Governors post players, junior forward April Thomas, junior forward Ashley Herring and sophomore center Janay Armstrong, a concern for Eastern coming in, only combined for 20 points.

The Panthers tipped the ball toward each other, blocked shots and double-teamed players to force bad shots. They even put pressure to make Peay tip the ball out of bounds when the Lady Governors had the ball in their offense.

“Even if our shots aren’t falling, our defense is there to back us up,” Thomas said.

Thomas led the Panthers with 19 points. Eastern junior forward Rachel Galligan added 14 points.

“(Not having a defense) was definitely our downfall last year,” Galligan said. “The reason we didn’t get it done last year is because we couldn’t defend. We got beat every night on (not having a defense).”

The Panthers used their defense on Thursday night to a 40-21 halftime lead.

“When you dig that hole against Eastern Illinois, it’s just so hard to come back from,” Daniels said. “You can’t trade baskets; you have to make shots.”

Eastern’s defense also limited the shot selection of Austin Peay in the first half. The Lady Governors shot 7-of-21 from the field in the first half and 3-of-10 from beyond the arc in the first half.

Eastern’s offense clicked in the first half. The Panthers finished 14-of-23 from the field in the first half, which included 6-of-12 from three-point range. The Panthers also made six of their seven free throws in the first half.

Eastern will continue its quest for the OVC regular season championship when it plays Tennessee-Martin at 4 p.m. Saturday in Martin, Tenn.

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or at kjmurphy@eiu.edu.

Eastern sophomore guard Lauren Sturtevant focuses on Austin Peay senior guard Ashlee McGee during the game on Thursday night at Lantz Arena. The Panthers forced 14 Lady Governors first-half turnovers. Eastern finished with 19 points off turnovers in the f

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