NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Just like that, it was all over.

Fifth-seeded Austin Peay stunned the Eastern women’s basketball team 69-65 in double overtime Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

The loss ended the team’s season one game short of an NCAA Tournament bid for the second consecutive year.

“It just wasn’t our day,” senior forward Lindsey Kluempers said after the loss. “They made more plays than us.”

The second-seeded Panthers trailed by four with 38 seconds left in regulation before tying the game with 11.4 seconds left to send it into overtime. Similarly, the Panthers led by four with just more than a minute to play in the first overtime before surrendering the lead with less than a minute to go.

In the double-overtime period it was all Lady Govs, led by freshman reserve guard Emily Pollock, who began the period with a layup and a 3-pointer to key Austin Peay’s run.

The Lady Govs increased the lead to as many as 10 points with 1:05 remaining.

“We ran into a hot basketball team that had a lot of confidence and they played like it tonight,” Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said. “I’m very proud of my kids’ effort. Their heart, their determination. If we take a little bit better care of the ball and there’s not an 18-free throw attempt discrepancy, things might’ve been different.”

Pollock also had five steals in the game, including one with less than a minute left in regulation that led to an open layup to tie the game.

“She’s just a bundle of energy for them and played her tail off,” Sallee said. “She’s a tough kid and made some big plays for them. She hit a very uncharacteristic three for them there in the second overtime that really helped them explode a little bit and open it up a little bit.”

Turnovers plagued the Panthers throughout the game, as they finished with a season-high 25. Senior guard Ellen Canale and red-shirt junior guard Dominique Sims combined for 15 turnovers.

Eastern senior forward Rachel Galligan led the charge for Eastern with 24 points on 12-of-15 shooting in 42 minutes. She also had four blocks in the game and was named to the All-Tournament team. No other Panther scored in double-figures, but senior guard Megan Edwards had nine points and eight assists in a career-high 48 minutes of action.

Galligan’s 24 points gave her 1,891 to end her career, 84 more than the previous career-record she broke a week ago. She also finished with 582 points for the season, breaking JoAnn Archer’s single-season record of 575 points set in 1981.

Sophomore guard Ashley Herring and senior forward April Thomas, offensively, led the Lady Govs.

Herring finished with 21 points while Thomas added 13 and eight rebounds.

Herring, Thomas and Pollock were all named to the All-Tournament team and Thomas was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

While the Panthers’ dreams of an NCAA Tournament bid are over, they still have an outside shot at an invitation to the postseason National Invitational Tournament, which is a 48-team tournament that begins March 18. The tournament’s selection day is March 16.

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

Senior forward Rachel Galligan cries following the team’s loss to Austin Peay. (Alycia Rockey/The Daily Eastern News)

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