“We needed that one,” said head coach Brady Sallee after he saw his team roll to its 16th consecutive home victory. “We needed one where we came out and kind of took care of business in the first half, and we were able to play a lot of people, get some people some much-needed rest and cruise to one.”

And cruise they did.

Eastern rolled to an 18-point halftime lead, holding Golden Eagles’ star senior guard Blair Bowens scoreless in the process.

Bowens finished with 13 points, most of which came with the game out of reach.

But the story of the night for the Panthers was their offense. While the majority of the team’s offense came from the post, with senior forward Rachel Galligan scoring a team-high 22 points and Kloak added 15, the key was getting shots out of players who had struggled of late.

Senior forward Lindsey Kluempers, who had been affected by a broken pinkie she suffered Jan. 13 against Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne, gave her highest scoring output since Nov. 24 against Southern Methodist with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting.

Likewise, junior guard Ashley Thomas got her shot to fall coming off the bench and added nine points, her highest total since scoring 10 against Jacksonville State on Jan. 3. Thomas had only scored seven total points in the six games since then.

“To see (Thomas and Kluempers) shoot the ball as well as they did, that’s definitely a good sign going into the last nine games,” Sallee said.

The Panthers sure take care of business at home, and it needs to continue.

With Tennessee State losing to Morehead State Thursday night, the Panthers sit alone in second place in the Ohio Valley Conference. Murray State, the only team sitting ahead of Eastern in the standings, hosts last-place UT Martin on Monday, and the Panthers can’t expect the Racers to lose again until their rematch on Feb. 21 in Lantz Arena. So by taking care of business at home and up until that game is key for Eastern to achieve its goal of an OVC Championship.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.