The Eastern women’s basketball team won its first road game in Ohio Valley Conference play this season Monday, beating Austin Peay 65-63 in Clarksville, Tenn.

The Panthers shot 62.5 percent in the second half, leading them to the victory.

Eastern improved to 11-13 overall and 6-7 in the OVC with the win.

The Panthers passed Austin Peay in the standings and now sit in seventh place in the conference with three games to go. Also, with Morehead State winning Monday, a loss for the Panthers would have meant they were on the outside looking in of the OVC tournament.

In the second half after Jordyne Crunk hit a jumper to cut the Austin Peay lead down to three, the Governors went on a 7-0 run to give them their largest lead of the game at 10.

Morgan Palombizio ended the Governors’ run after she hit a three-point field goal. Crunk then made a jumper, which was followed by an Erica Brown lay-up and free throw that cut Austin Peay’s lead down to four with a little less than nine minutes remaining.

Crunk connected on another jumper to give the Panthers their first lead since early in the first half at 57-56 at the 6:29 mark of the second half.

The Governors regained the lead at 61-60 with 3:41 left in the second half, when Tiasha Gray hit a layup.

Gray ended the game with 24 points on 9-of-23 shooting from the field.

After Palombizio hit a layup to give the Panthers the lead back with 3:14 remaining, Sabina Oroszova hit a layup of her own to put the lead back up to three with a 1:50 to go.

Gray hit a layup to cut the Panther lead down to one, but that is as close as Austin Peay would get, as she would miss a 3-point shot as time expired.

Oroszova led the Panthers with 24 points on 11-of-18 shooting, as Austin Peay struggled to guard her throughout the game.

Eastern coach Debbie Black said it was the first time in a while that a team did not double-team Oroszova.

“They were really soft on her,” she said. “ I think that is because the last three or four games our forwards have really proved they could score and we just took advantage of that.”

Palombizio had the game of her life, Black said. The freshman scored 11 points and collected eight rebounds. She also shot 3-of-5 from the field, which included 3-of-3 from the 3-point line.

Crunk finished with 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the floor.

Eastern shot 49 percent for the game and 60 percent from the 3-point line.

The Panthers will have four days off before heading to Belmont for their Saturday OVC matchup.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu.