A 10-2 run in the final 4 minutes, 22 seconds of the game helped the Eastern’s women’s basketball team hold off Murray State, 80-63 on Monday.

Eastern held a lead at halftime, 40-24, but Murray State outscored the Panthers 37-30 until the final 4 minutes, 30 seconds of the second half.

The Racers shrunk Eastern’s lead to nine, making the score 70-61, with 4 minutes, 22 seconds to go in the game, the closest they had been to catching Eastern since the 13:34 mark in the first half when Eastern had a 17-8 lead.

When it counted, Eastern took back control of the game. Junior forward Mariah King had six points during the 10-2 run. Juniors Kelsey Wyss and Sydney Mitchell each added two of their own.

“(Murray State) went on their little run,” Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said. “We talked a lot about the process you have to go through to win on the road. As long as you’re defending and seeing those shots go in you have to know they’re not going to continue to make those shots.”

The Racers were 0-for-6 from the field after bringing the game within nine points, and 0-for-1 from the free throw line. The Racers didn’t score until there was 18 seconds left in the game, when it was already too late.

During the Racers’ 0-for-6 dry spell, the Panthers grabbed all but one rebound on the missed shots; in fact, five Panthers grabbed at least one rebound during that stretch.

This effort was a small sample of the Panthers’ domination on the boards Monday, grabbing at total of 45 in the game – 11 more than the Racers.

“Going in, we knew we had to dominate on the boards and we felt we could do that,” Sallee said.

Mitchell led the way for the Panthers on the glass, grabbing 11 for a double-double – 20 points and 10 rebounds.

“She’s starting to understand that against a lot of the teams in this league, they don’t have one of her,” Sallee said. “There was one point she was standing at the free throw line and looked over at me, and I yelled, ‘Match-up nightmare!'”

Sallee said Mitchell’s double-double wasn’t an ordinary double-double. He said Mitchell probably player her best game all season.

In a similar dominating fashion, the Panthers made 14 more free throws than the Racers. The Panthers were 24-for-30 from the free throw line, while the Racers only got to the line 14 times.

Sophomore guard Jordyne Crunk led the way for the Panthers from the line, making all eight of her attempts for eight of her 10 total points. Four Panthers were perfect from the free throw line – Crunk, Wyss, junior guard Ta’Kenya Nixon and senior forward Chantelle Pressley.

The Panthers’ defense held the Racers to 32 percent shooting (23-for-71), while the Panthers sank more than half of their shots.

The win pushes the Panthers’ record to 17-4 overall (8-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference). They will have a quick turnaround, traveling home to play Southeast Missouri at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Lantz Arena.

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