Eastern sophomore guard Ta’Kenya Nixon took 16 shots Thursday against Morehead State – seven free throws and nine field goals – and made all 16.

Nixon ended the game against Morehead State with 25 points on 100 percent shooting.

Head coach Brady Sallee said Nixon was efficient throughout the game, although Nixon committed seven turnovers.

Sallee said a lot of Nixon’s points came in transitions, with her driving to the basket and making lay-ups.

“She made up for the turnovers with how good she was offensively,” Sallee said.

Not only did Nixon lead the team in points, she led the team in rebounds, grabbing 10 for a double-double in the win.

Wyss shuts down Bozeman

Sophomore guard Kelsey Wyss only had five points and five rebounds Thursday in Eastern’s win over Morehead State, but her defensive effort made the difference, according to Sallee.

Wyss held Morehead’s star player, Chynna Bozeman, to 18 points after Bozeman had scored 30 points in the two team’s previous meeting.

“Kelsey was tremendous,” Sallee said. “She stuck to her like glue.”

Despite Bozeman scoring in double figures, she had to take 25 shots in order to get there. Bozeman was 6-of-25 from the field.

“Everywhere Chynna went, Kelsey was right there with her,” Sallee said.

Sallee said the defense was in tune with how Bozeman was going to try to score points, which helped them in the game.

In the two team’s first meeting, junior forward Chantelle Pressley guarded Bozeman for the most part; however, Sallee said Wyss’ ability to guard Bozeman alone in Thursday’s game helped the Panthers in the rebounding category.

“It allowed Chantelle to be in a rebounding position more,” Sallee said.

Pressley had six rebounds in the game, while the team combined for 49. Morehead State only grabbed 29 rebounds.

Around the OVC

Eastern moved into fourth place this weekend with two wins as they passed up Austin Peay.

Tennessee Tech remains in first place, while Tennessee-Martin took advantage of Eastern beating Morehead State to move into second place.

Now Morehead State is in third place, one game ahead of Eastern.

The top eight teams in the conference make the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

As it stands, the following teams would make the tournament: Tennessee Tech, UT Martin, Morehead State, Eastern, Austin Peay, Jacksonville State, Southeast Missouri, and Tennessee State.

The top four seeds would get at least one round bye in the tournament.

The race for the bottom five in the standings is still close with Jacksonville State in sixth place only three games ahead of the tenth place team, Eastern Kentucky.

Murray State has the exact same record, 7-18 overall and 3-11 in conference, than Tennessee State as they are tied up in the battle for eighth place.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944 or admcnamee@eiu.edu