Tennessee-Martin’s leading scorer, Heather Butler, had a chance to bring the game within a point with 1:55 to go, but missed the second of two free throws to make it 63-61 in Eastern’s favor.

When Eastern got the ball, they looked for a good shot, but didn’t panic when they didn’t get it. The shot clock ticked under ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, and sophomore guard Jordyne Crunk passed the ball to junior guard Kelsey Wyss at the top of the three-point arc. Wyss went up with the shot with two to three players in her face.

Nailed it. The crowd went crazy. Eastern went up by five points.

Eastern junior guard Ta’Kenya Nixon said she could tell that shot took the air out of Tennessee-Martin.

“That’s one of those shots where you can see in the other team’s eyes like ‘Ho-ly crap,'” Nixon said.

With a 66-61 lead and 30 seconds to play, Eastern made “winning plays” to seal the victory, 70-63, Monday night.

Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said he has come to expect Wyss to make those kinds of shots late in games.

“It’s a backbreaker,” Sallee said. “How many of those shots have we seen Kelsey hit?”

Sallee said the shot was a credit to all of the players on the court who didn’t panic as seconds began to disappear on the shot clock.

“A lot of teams when you start counting to 10-9-8, they start to go hog wild,” Sallee said. “We just keep moving (the ball) – doing our thing.”

Tennessee-Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said the game came down to three possessions at the end – Wyss’ three-pointer and a play Eastern junior forward Sydney Mitchell made.

On Eastern’s next possession, following the one that ended with Wyss’ shot, Crunk had to take a desperation shot at the end of the shot clock. She missed, but Mitchell chased after the ball and came up with the rebound.

“I was just hungry to win, that’s all I wanted to do,” Mitchell said. “It was crunch time.”

After getting the rebound, Mitchell was fouled and sank both free throws to give Eastern a 68-61 lead.

On the other end of the court, Tennessee-Martin was failing to convert its opportunities, including missing a layup and Butler missing a free throw.

“That was the game,” McMillan said.

Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said his team committed to making effort plays throughout the game, beginning in the first half when players like Nixon and sophomore guard Jessica Parker were diving on the floor for loose balls.

“Just winning plays,” Sallee said. “Very rarely does a game like this come down to the plays you run. It comes down to players making plays.”

Sallee said his team showed the kind of effort a team has to have at home in a game between the top two teams in the Ohio Valley Conference.

“That’s what your home court has to mean to you,” Sallee said.

Mitchell said the team was prepared to give a full effort going into the game knowing that Tennessee-Martin, last season’s OVC Conference Tournament champion, had a target on its back.

“We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears on the floor,” Mitchell said.

Now that the Panthers have beaten Tennessee-Martin, Mitchell said she thinks they’ve turned the tables in the OVC.

“We’re going to have a target on our back now,” Mitchell said.

Eastern is now the only team in the OVC with an undefeated conference record, at 4-0. Tennessee-Martin was the last to fall, before the Panthers stood alone atop the OVC.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7942 or admcnamee@eiu.edu.