After the Eastern women’s basketball team got off to a 2-0 lead, 23 seconds into Thursday night’s road contest against Eastern Kentucky (8-8, 5-2 Ohio Valley Conference), it soon found itself trailing, 15-2.

The Panthers (9-8, 5-1 OVC) made only one of their first 12 shots of the game, until a 10-0 run of their own got them back into the game and helped them pull off a 60-50 victory.

According to head coach Brady Sallee, a couple of easy buckets broke the ice and got the Panthers back to executing their game plan.

“We did get rattled,” Sallee said. “They jumped us pretty good and we didn’t handle it real well. The biggest thing was that we started getting stops on our end and turning them into transition points.”

Senior guard Dominique Sims was one player that led Eastern on its run, hitting a couple of shots. Sims finished the game with 17 points and eight rebounds.

“I think the 10-0 run was very important, especially the way the game was going,” Sims said. “We weren’t executing and our defense wasn’t particularly great at that point, so we were just like ‘OK, we need to step it up and start getting on a run’ and that’s what we did.”

By halftime, Eastern had the game within its grasp as it trailed EKU 23-21. The message during halftime, Sallee said, was to get tougher and start hitting the boards harder.

“We got our post players in foul trouble and (senior forward) Maggie (Kloak) sitting down really hurt us,” he said. “I challenged them to turn the game around. As the game went on, our domination on the boards and our ability to be tough when we needed to be made the game.”

With Kloak in foul trouble, freshman guard Kelsey Wyss and freshman forward Mariah King came into the game and played long minutes.

“I definitely think (Wyss) played hard, played well, and played a lot of minutes,” Sallee said. “I thought she defended really well on the ball and she was tough. So she gave us a big lift.”

Sallee said senior forward Marie Baker and sophomore guard Madeline Kish played some big roles.

The Panthers tied the game at 23 just seconds into the half and never looked back by scoring 39 second half points.

According to Sims, freshman guard Ta’Kenya Nixon stepped up and played a huge role in the game. She notched a double-double, scoring 16 points and a career high 17 rebounds.

The 17 boards is also a team season high.

“It’s crazy because when everyone is going for the rebound and everyone is crowded around the basket, for some reason she ends up getting the ball and immediately heading down to the other end,” Sims said.

Sallee said the offense is designed so that guards get more boards, but Nixon grabbing 17 is extraordinary.

Eastern padded the score at game’s end, as they connected on 14-of-22 free throws.

Going into the game, Nixon said she thought the game would be big. Following it, she said it lived up to her expectations.

“Every game in conference is a big game, but for me, I thought that this was one of the biggest games for us,” Nixon said. “To win it the way we did, you just have to win some close games sometimes.”

While the Panthers move into second place in the OVC, they will get a chance to step into first place as they play Morehead State (13-6, 6-1 OVC) 1 p.m. Saturday at Morehead, Ky.,

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944

or admcnamee@eiu.edu