The Panthers’ women’s basketball team trailed at halftime of its regular season finale, but nearly doubled its first half total in points, to win, 69-54.

Tennessee State led Eastern 25-24 at halftime in what was a difficult half for the each team, as neither team shot higher than 33 percent from the field.

The Panthers were 9-of-27 in the first half, including going 0-of-3 from the three-point line.

“Can’t say I didn’t expect it,” Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said.

Sallee said Tennessee State usually plays teams in similar ways, where the team does not have a good field goal percentage.

In the first half, the Panthers spent too much time waiting for fouls to be called, which never occurred, Sallee said.

In the second half, the Panthers scored 45 points to outscore the Tigers 45-29 to end the game.

“I told (the team) we had to keep running throughout the whole game,” Sallee said. “It wasn’t going to come early. We had to wear them down.”

Eastern picked up the pace in the second half, attempting 10 more shots than the first half.

The Panthers’ shooting percentage also improved with the transition effort. Eastern shot 54 percent in the second half.

The Panthers separated themselves from the Tigers with a 15-3 run down the stretch in the second half.

“Transition was a big part of it,” Sallee said.

Also a big part of it was sophomore forward Mariah King, who scored six points during the Panthers’ run.

King led the team in the game, scoring 18 points and grabbing five rebounds in 28 minutes of play.

Junior forward Hillary Held was another star of the game, as she came off the bench and scored 13 points in 11 minutes.

“She got great position and made quick moves,” Sallee said. “She didn’t hold onto the ball too long.”

Held was 5-of-5 from the field. Her 13 points was a career-high.

With the win, the Panthers ended the regular season on a nine-game winning streak and with a record of 18-11 (13-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference).

The Panthers will be the No. 4 seed in this weekend’s OVC tournament. Their first game will be at noon on Thursday.Sallee said this week in practice is going present a mental challenge for the team as it prepares for tournament play.

“You’re getting ready to go into games where with every single possession both teams will give maximum effort,” Sallee said.

The team needs to be ready to give all of the effort, Sallee said.

“You have to understand that your level of play has to be that and every single possession is of the utmost importance,” Sallee said. “The team that does that is going to win the whole thing.”

As the No. 4 seed the Panthers will play the winner of the first round game between Austin Peay and Murray State.

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