Kelsey Wyss’ hand might have been throbbing, but the smile on her face was stuck from ear to ear, after stuffing (blocking) Tennessee-Martin’s hope at beating Eastern in regulation Thursday.

With the game tied at 76-76 and six seconds left on the clock, Eastern’s defense ran a zone look, trying to keep the Skyhawks’ players in front of them to force a contested shot.

One Skyhawk, Jaclissa Haislip, got through the defense and found herself open on the far corner of the court, behind the three-point line.

“I don’t know if I lost my girl or what, or if I was guarding somebody and she got past me, but I was looking around the court and there was a girl at the top, a girl at the bottom and number 20 was wide open so that was my next move,” Wyss said.

Wyss did not want Haislip, 6-of-12 from beyond the arc at that point, to get a shot up. The sophomore sprinted to the shooter’s corner and using “luck,” blocked the shot.

“I don’t think there’s any skill to it. It was luck,” Wyss said.

However, there was at least a little skill on the play Wyss made to get to the shooter, Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said.

“I’d like to take more credit for it, but she has a pretty good basketball I.Q. and understood what she had to do and thank goodness,” Sallee said.

Wyss did not just get one finger on the ball to tip it. She said she got her whole hand on it. It only hurt for a bit.

“I’m pretty sure it was a spike,” Wyss joked. “That one hurt my hand.”

Afterword, as her teammates celebrated with her, as the two teams headed into overtime, Wyss said she could not get the smile off of her face.

Sallee said Wyss’ block was one defensive play that will go down in the books as one of the best single efforts he has seen.

“It was definitely one of those you’re going to remember,” Sallee said.

Wyss said the team was filled with “complete adrenaline” going into overtime. A close game like the one they were playing is a dream, Wyss said.

“Those are the games you play for,” Wyss said. “That’s when it’s a test for yourself, your team and it’s a test to see what you can come through to win those games.”

In overtime, Wyss scored the Panthers’ first points, a three-pointer to draw even with the Skyhawks, 79-79.

Throughout the overtime period, the fans were on their feet cheering on the Panthers. Wyss said the fans helped fuel the team.

“At the end of the game, a lot of us had played quite a few minutes and everyone was playing really hard, so their energy gave us a rush,” Wyss said.

The Panthers went on to win the game in overtime, 88-85. Wyss scored 21 points; however, her one block on the stat sheet was a game-changer, Sallee said.

“In games like that you hear people talk about players having to make plays,” Sallee said. “That was an instance where a player made a big time play.”

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

Kelsey Wyss, a sophomore guard, scored 21 points in the Panthers’ Feb. 17 overtime win over Tennessee-Martin. Wyss also came up with a block at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime. (Audrey Sawyer

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