Sophomore guard Ta’Kenya Nixon only played 26 minutes in Thursday’s overtime win against Tennessee-Martin, sitting on the bench for a long time with foul trouble.

With Nixon in foul trouble, sophomore guard Kelsey Wyss and freshmen guards Jordyne Crunk and Jessica Parker stepped up and played double digit minutes each.

Wyss led the team with 43 minutes. Crunk played 36 minutes and Parker played 16. The three combined to score 31 points, led by Wyss’ 21.

Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said the guards did a good job of stepping in for Nixon, especially against talented guards for the Skyhawks such as Jasmine Newsome and Heather Butler.

“I can’t say enough about the job that those kids did,” Sallee said.

The defensive efforts of Wyss and Crunk especially were felt in the second half as they held Newsome to only five points in the second, after she had scored 14 in the first half.

Defensively, Crunk had one block and two steals in the game, while Wyss had one of each.

“It’s tough when you’re playing without a leader and you’ve depended on her to do so much,” Sallee said. “It would’ve been so easy for us to have an excuse (to lose).”

The Panthers played from behind for most of the game, until grabbing and holding on to the lead in overtime.

Crunk’s shot ties game

With 59 seconds left in regulation, the Panthers trailed by three points until Crunk stepped up for a three-point shot and drained it.

Despite Crunk having been 0-of-3 from beyond the arc in the game, the ball found her hands. Wyss said she had total confidence in her.

“She doesn’t play like a freshman,” Sallee said. “She can shoot and she knows she can. I’m proud of her.”

Crunk scored four points in the game to go along with eight assists and four rebounds. In place of Nixon, who was in foul trouble, Sallee said Crunk played a major role in the game’s outcome.

“What Jordyne Crunk did in that role is the story of the game,” Sallee said.

Nixon finishes game despite fouls

Sallee said there was no doubt Nixon was frustrated throughout Thursday’s game as she found herself on the bench with three fouls for a long period of time. Once she got back in the game, she committed her fourth foul.

She had to sit on the bench longer.

“There’s no doubt she was frustrated with how the first 35 minutes had gone,” Sallee said.

Before the five-minute overtime, Nixon had only played 21 minutes in the game, including the last five of the second half.

When Sallee put her onto the floor at the end of the game, and for overtime, he said he had a lot of confidence in what she would do.

“I knew when she went back in there that she was going to give us a lot,” Sallee said. “The tempo picked up and all of a sudden (the Skyhawks) had to start focusing on her a ton.”

In-game momentum builds

The Panthers trailed by three Thursday at halftime, but that almost was not the case. Parker nearly made a desperation half-court shot at the buzzer to tie the game.

Crunk hit a game tying three-pointer with 59 seconds to go in the game.

At the end of regulation, Wyss blocked what could have been a game-winning three pointer for the Skyhawks.

The Panthers trailed for most of Thursday’s game, but Wyss said all of these situations helped give the team momentum.

“It just builds,” Wyss said.

With Wyss’ block to send the game to overtime, she said it gave the team another chance to win.

“We didn’t take advantage of opportunities in regulation and it gave us more motivation to win,” Wyss said.

The Panthers next game is Thursday against Austin Peay, with whom the Panthers are tied up between fourth and fifth place in the Ohio Valley Conference. The fourth place team gets a first round bye in the tournament.

The game is set to start at 5:15 p.m. in Clarksville, Tenn.

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

Kelsey Wyss, a sophomore guard, looks for a teammate to pass the ball to during the game against Murray State Saturday afternoon in Lantz Arena. (Audrey Sawyer

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